 
The Awakening

Ordo Tribus XI

Ethan Santiago

November 2011
This novel is dedicated to all men, women and children

who are victims of war and strife

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. -Mark Twain
The Awakening

Ordo Tribus XI

Synopsis

Set in the near future, the world is advancing as new technologies emerges. But the effects from the attack in an early decade of the 21st century, by an elusive group called Ordo Tribus XI (Order of the Three Eleven), lingers.

Soon, a sinister force arises, quietly permeating into everyone's lives and into all nooks and crannies of the connected world. As heinous and ambitious as the perpetrators of World War I and II, the insidious force uses corruption and technology to wage their covert war for world domination. There is no hesitation in using any measures against those who stand in their way. It is up to the friends of the victims and a group of hackers to uncover this hidden threat, and defeat it before it is too late.

_Disclaimer_ _and_ _License_ _Information_

This novel is historical fiction, political intrigue, techno thriller and non-supernatural horror. All characters and organizations depicted in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons or organizations, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Warning about graphic content: The chapter with the subtitle "Tortured Souls" contains an account that may be too graphic for some people. While the characters depicted in this section are fictional, the methods and descriptions are not. Jump to the next section in the chapter if you want to skip this section.

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###  Prologue

Death and destruction were widespread as World War I drew to its close through the signing of a treaty, a treaty that offers temporary peace while unresolved conflict continue to simmer underneath. Austria-Hungary suffered greater than a 90% casualty rate among the troops that had been mobilized for the war. There were more than 50% casualties from all the troops who fought in the war. This war was started by a nation considered one of the most civilized and highly educated, a country called Germany. The war had wide support of its people. The people revered their Kaiser and were fully behind him. Their emperor's title was adopted from the Roman emperors: they saw themselves as successor of the Roman empire. The plan to start their conquest had been hatched by the Kaiser and his officers as far back as 1890s.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Germany officers and businessmen gathered. Among the leader of the group is General Erich Hintze. One young officer readied himself to leave in order to deliver a message. Erich turned to him and said, "Send my regards to Friedrich Adolf Julius von Bernhardi." He then turned back to his audience.

Now Friedrich, one of the best students of one of our great philosopher Heinrich von Treitschke, is one of Germany's greatest talent. Along with Nietszche, he has clearly enunciated the importance of asserting ourselves. For these philosophers have rightly recognized that we are of a superior race."

He paced himself, moving from one side to another, to make sure he talked directly to each person in attendance. "We are the rightful ruler of this world. Only the fittest will survive. For they have taught us that in order to succeed, we need to set aside so-called morality that weakens the mind. Morality, as our great philosophers have said, is used by the weak to cling onto the beliefs that they are superior. All these Jews and Christians who lectured about morality are not going to survive long in this world. It is a pity that we have adopted Christianity from the Romans or that the Romans adopted Christianity in their later years."

One of the businessman in attendance wondered aloud, "How come our Kaiser can often be heard appealing to God?"

Erich smiled and said, "Our God is not the God of Christianity, but the God of our religion of valour. For that is the only religion that matters."

The businessman again observed, "We have just signed the treaty, and the people are getting restless. And yet you are in such a good mood."

"Of course, this is just a temporary retreat. We shall rise again, stronger and more successful. Our campaign continues. Our Turk allies, which our advisers have helped immensely, are continuing the evacuation of Armenians and moving them to the desert in Syria. With our support, a holy war in the name of their religion have been started. They call it a Jihad."

"With any luck we will be rid of these Armenians, their wives and children. Only one race will rise between Turks and Armenians. And I can tell you, our allies the Turks will be victorious. We can take a lesson on how they exterminate the Armenians. Mass evacuation as they marched to the desert and left to die. Churches burned with the Armenians inside according to one cable from our officer. I can tell you, the victor in the next war will be one who won't hesitate to get rid of our enemies, the inferior races."

Ominously, one year after his proclamation, Armenian children were herded into the mezzanine of a school to be poisoned with toxic gases. And the same technique would be used years later during the second world war against the Jews.

Erich then faced the businessmen. "You should read up more on teachings of our great philosopher. And learn more about survival of the fittest. The importance of an army state. Where the state is supreme and the people are its servants. The state should yield absolute power and its citizen submit absolutely. They also talk about the superiority of our Aryan race and how the world will be a better place once we dominate and control it. The importance of waging war mercilessly!" He exclaimed with fist banging on the table. "Only then can you appreciate more about what we are trying to accomplish, instead of just being content to get a hefty profit from our wars." Erich then pulled on his clothes to straightened them. "I shall take my leave and go on a vacation in Nueva Germania."

"Ah, a popular retreat for our Aryan brothers," said one famous writer who had remained quiet until now.

"Indeed, established by no other than the sister of our great philosopher Nietszche." Nueva Germania, or New Germany would later become part of a country called Paraguay, where years later a wanted World War II German war criminal would go to hide.

Erich then faced everyone and declared, "Always be ready, for we shall call upon you again soon for an even greater task on behalf of our motherland. Remember Otto Richard Tannenburg's plan, outlined in 1911. Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway are to remain neutral just temporarily. Then they will eventually become part of our empire once the others have been conquered. The Balkans and Turks have been our gateway as planned. We shall continue on this path. Turks have helped build the Baghdad railway to Persian Gulf which should be continued and then used to conquer India, then China. We will conquer all of Africa and the Americas." Erich spoke confidently as if the war was still being fought.

"Although next time, we might have to take Norway so that our naval forces do not get choked up in North Sea again. But our forces are intact, our munitions are aplenty. We can ramp up our war machines." He said this while looking at the businessman.

Erich paused for a second in deep thought, and then went on. "You know what those Christians talk about in their Revelations. A beast whose name is 666. That to understand it is like understanding a foreign language." He turned toward the board and pick up a piece of chalk. "I'll tell you what, why don't we use the new tabulating machine. It uses binary numbers. Which is just ON or OFF, 1 or null. Since it is binary, you have a base of 2 per binary digit instead of base of 10 for decimal numbers. To get the equivalent of a single decimal digit of 6, you would need at least 3 binary digits. The least significant bit, which is the rightmost binary digit is 2 to the power of 0, the middle binary digit is 2 to the power of 1, the most significant binary digit to the left is 2 to the power of 2. So most significant to least significant binary digits equivalent in decimal are 4, 2 and 1. Binary digits that are turned ON are counted and added together. So to get 6, you turn ON the two digits on the left. That is 4+2 with the last ignored. One, One and Null. So 666 is One, One, Null, One, One, Null, One, One, Null from a 3 binary digit each. Erich wrote down 666 then the 1 for ON and dash in place of the OFF or null digit. Below it he wrote down 3 for each set of 3 binary digit number.

6 6 6

11-11-11-

3 3 3

The professor in attendance laugh and said, "Since when have you been a mathematician?"

"I've taken interest in the new tabulating machine to see how we can use it for encrypting our telegrams or decrypting those from our enemy. I heard of one inventor Arthur Scherbius who is currently working on a cryptography machine that he is referring to as the Enigma."

One officer eyeing what Erich had written on the board said, "I see a pattern of three eleven."

Erich smiled and said, "Yeah starting from the most significant bit, an 11 for each 3 bit."

Erich paused and said, "That's it. Let three eleven be our call sign."
Chapter 1 – Barbarians at the Gate

_  
November_ _11,_ _2011  
12:23_ _pm_ _Pacific_ _Standard_ _Time  
3:23_ _pm_ _Eastern_ _Standard_ _Time_

The streets of Las Vegas are crowded with people. It is cooler now and a lot of people choose to walk outside. Among the crowd is a guy in formal business attire carrying a shopping bag. He walks casually, joining the large crowds in the street and then casually drops a bag into a garbage can.

In Houston, Texas, cheers and blaring music create a festive atmosphere for a big concert. A young man manning a food stall has gone through security checks and each of his items have been scrutinized and cleared during the night. But that doesn't stop one of the clean up crew, who is working late into the wee hours of the morning. He pays a visit to the shack. He removes one of the walls and leaves a package inside before carefully nailing back the plywood wall in place. But the vendor doesn't notice anything amiss when he arrives to set up shop in the morning. The crowds who have walked a distance to get near the stage are already starving and keeping him very busy. And the concert has just started.

Tourists pour in to the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, all with advance tickets, some acquired by contacting their representative. An old lady is one of those who was given a ticket by her representative. But prior to getting here, she helped a distraught woman. The old lady was moving out of the visitor centre to the advance ticket zone, when a lady walking in front of her looked distressed and asked her for help. The old woman asked the woman why she was upset, and the woman points to her son who is walking ahead almost out of sight. She said he left his medication and diabetes test kit and he is heading to meet congressman Gordon. The old lady exclaimed. "I am heading there too, was he also invited by the congressman?" The lady replied "yes." The old lady then smiled and said, "Oh our congressman is such a fine gentleman." She then reached out her hand to take the medical kit,which looked like a big first aid kit, from the lady. "Here. I'll take it and give it to him when I get there." "Oh thank you so much." "Not a problem dear. You have a good day now." The old woman then put the kit inside the shopping bag along with the souvenir she bought. At this point she sees Congressman Gordon who immediately recognizes her and approaches to shake her hand. She is then escorted in by the Congressman as they walk toward the Capitol Building. The Congressman's aide takes a picture of him walking with the old lady. The aide thinks this will be a good picture on the website or a campaign poster for next election.

A large crowd of tourist and local visitors flock to the theme parks in Orlando Florida. Among the crowd is a guy walking nervously and sweating. He knows about the need to sacrifice yourself for your religion, but the thought of what he has in his hand makes him nervous. Ten more minutes and he can go home. How much of his body would be affected only time can tell.

Meanwhile in New York City, the subway is packed with people, including those who have left work early to start their weekend early. As the door is about to close, a guy hurriedly rushes out, leaving his carry-on baggage. A passenger, realizing the man left his bag, tries to catch him, but the door has already closed. He decides to just take it to the booth at his stop and report the item at lost and found. But before he reaches his destination, the train comes to a screeching halt as the driver breaks to avoid hitting an object blocking the track. The train manages to stop in time, but the power then goes out, trapping the passengers inside the train. The guy with the lost baggage continues to walk through Grand Central station with his hand outstretched carrying another bag. He casually puts it down and sandwiches it between a garbage can and a wall. He then walks briskly out of the station.

_  
Approximately_ _ten_ _minutes_ _later_

Six bags are now in position at various major cities of the U.S., all of them containing a digital clock that is counting down with 5 seconds left. Each clock is set to trigger an unusual payload. As the time runs out, loud explosions detonate simultaneously in Las Vegas, Houston, the Capitol Building, Orlando, and two areas of New York. Mayhem ensues as people run for cover. Those at the immediate vicinity of the explosion are less lucky as their body parts scatter around. Rivers of blood start flowing throughout the streets.

Emergency crews arrive and start treating the patients. Unknown to the first responders, there is an invisible malady among the debris. They continued treating the wounded. Soon, the emergency command centre is set up and men are sent to check the bomb sites. One of the men has a radiation detector that starts to go off. The emergency personnel immediately ask everyone to leave the area. People in Hazmat arrive shortly and survey the area. A 500 meter exclusion zone is established. The wind is calm and the computer model does not show much dispersal. This scene is repeated across the different attack sites. Except for Las Vegas.

There is a strong wind in Las Vegas blowing the debris all over the place. Inputting the wind direction and the debris type into their system, analysts are able to quickly assess how the contamination spread and how far. People are asked to stay out of the plume direction. A 5 km exclusion zone is established and people are asked to stay indoors.

Word spreads that radiation has been used for the attack and people start panicking.

_  
Press_ _Briefing_ _Room_

The press have gathered and are waiting anxiously. Within minutes several people the press have never seen before come out and take up seats on the rectangular table setup in the White House press briefing room. The president soon appears.

"My fellow Americans, it is with great sadness that I inform you of an attack that has occurred in 5 cities across America. Early indications suggest a radiological dispersal device (RDD) was used. These are also known as dirty bombs. Emergency response units have been activated. On the recommendation of the experts, a 550 yards exclusion zone has been established at the various sites of explosion except for Las Vegas where a 3 miles exclusion zone have been established as a precaution. This is to minimize people from getting contaminated. Triage units are being setup near sites of the blasts."

"I would like to ask people not to panic. I know the presence of radiation, of which we don't fully understand, is a bit scary. But it is important that at this time of crisis, we stay calm and united and show the terrorists that we will not be cowed."

President Dean Davis then turns over the press briefings to the expert panels seated at the table and left the room to join those in the newly setup emergency command centre.

One media person shouts out a question. "Any idea how far the radiation will spread?" One of the expert responds, "Based on our assessment, considering the weather, materials used in the explosion and levels of radiation, we don't expect the contamination to spread too far. The main concerns are the shrapnel or debris from the initial explosion. In Las Vegas, local authorities have asked residents within a 3 miles zone to close their windows and stay indoors. USB-key size radiation detectors with display and store button are distributed. These device provides several levels of readings and comes with brochure about what to do for each level. People are encouraged to record where the contamination was found in their body and record the stored reading number displayed in the key."

Another member of the press asked. "What should people who have been in the area do?" One of the doctors in the panel responds. "We have set up detectors portals and triage in the area. One of the doctor in the panel responds, "I would encourage these people to visit the triage if they could. If they are not close to one of the triage units, then make sure to take a shower and get rid of any debris right away. Then try to report to one of the triage or medical centres. It is possible that the hospitals could be overwhelmed. In that case use the key-chain device to check yourself and follow the instruction based on what levels is displayed on the device. And stay indoors unless instructed to evacuate. Just as a precaution, if you are outdoors, cover your mouth and nose with a handkerchief or clean clothes to avoid inhaling any debris. Also cover any wound that you might have."

He thinks but does not say out loud, "There will be less casualties than September 11, but the debris will be a pain to cleanup. Thankfully the levels used were not that high."

He thinks of the need to reassure the people. So he says. "The effect from these attacks, though frightening, are expected to be more psychological than physical, except for those that were in the immediate vicinity of the attack. It is important that we don't panic. If they want mass casualties, they could have done far more damage with stronger conventional weapons. But they chose this weapon because they know it would create widespread fear. So let us not let them get what they want."

Unfortunately, those assurances do not calm the people. Some start rioting and breaking into stores to stock up on food. There are also reports of people waving sticks to chase away people that have blood and debris on them. Some people are fighting them off as if they are zombies about to infect them. Some people wanted to help but are concerned about their own well-being and so they too start to run away.

False reports of radiation contamination and explosions start spreading across the country. Panic and rioting spreads.

A video of an automated voice and animated face of hooded man starts circulating on the internet. The hooded animated man is sitting in front of a rotating globe with a red background. The video has an inscription that says "Ordo Tribus XI", the order of the three eleven. The robotic sounding voice proclaims that "We are responsible for the surprise package today. This is just the beginning. We will continue until the rightful ruler of this world assume its throne. Submit to our authority and be spared from the coming retribution. Resist and suffer the consequences. Sieg Heil!"

_  
Houston,_ _Texas_

The president decides to visit Houston near the site of the explosion on the suggestion of the Vice President Jacob James, to calm the people. He initially resists thinking his presence would be a distraction to emergency staff. But the vice president was persistent. The president then agrees to go there quickly and let the TV camera show that everything is OK. He shakes the hand of some of the people there who have been cleared as unaffected. He tries to comfort them.

He is surrounded by the Presidential Security Force inside a tent. President Dean Davis just received an update while resting inside the tent. He is informed that there are only a few fatalities. There were several injuries but most were minor and had a somatic effect only, which means there is no expected genetic effects to the injured. The president asks his secretary to note this information for his next press briefing. Both the interior and exterior part of the tent is well secured. Which might be why Peter, a long time staff of the Presidential Security Force, lets his guard down. As he turns his back on Drew, another long time member of the force, he does not see the gun quickly drawn out and pointed at the president. Within seconds shots are fired, 5 of them consecutively at point blank toward the president's head. Peter turns around instantly and shoots at Drew, but Drew already had fired the third shot. The president died instantly at the scene. Peter wants to fire more shots at Drew but controls himself. They need to know who Drew is working for?

As he tries to subdue the injured assailant, Drew starts to shake. Peter realized too late that Drew has a poison pill in his mouth. He has bitten on a potassium cyanide pill, letting it break and soak in his mouth, and then breathing in to allow it to quickly go to his brain. The mitochondria, the energy source of the body, is deprived of the necessary oxygen, thereby killing the cells. The effect is immediate. With his brain shutting down, his body immediately goes into comma. Death soon follows.

_  
The_ _White_ _House_

No time is wasted as the vice president is immediately sworn in as president, as they make their way back to the White House aboard the Air Force One. Upon reaching the White House, he immediately calls the TV cameras in and holds a nationally televised announcement.

"My fellow Americans. I regret to inform you that our president has been assassinated while comforting the victims of an earlier attack at Houston, Texas. As set out in our constitution, I have been sworn in as the president of our great nation. We are facing a great threat from an unknown enemy. We have seen that they will stop at nothing to attack us. Let me make one thing clear: We will win this war."

He pauses for a moment, and then goes on. "This extraordinary threat deserves an extraordinary response. On our way back aboard the Air Force One, I, along with our cabinet, have drafted a bill that will choke off any finances to this group. We are introducing a Motherland Defence Initiative. Effective immediately, all communications online deemed as a threat by law enforcement agents shall be monitored. All users' data should also be retained indefinitely by the service provider to help us with our investigation. Any person suspected of involvement with this so called order shall be confined indefinitely until the law enforcement officials deem that the threat no longer exists. This extended power will ensure that our officers can carry out their urgent task without delay. We are also adding a provision to allow shutdown of the internet should it be deemed necessary to avoid any disturbance and further attack. Anyone who in anyway supports the attackers or enables them to weaken our defence shall also be confined and investigated."

He flips his page and reads on. "To cut off any possible source of funding for this group, we shall immediately take steps to implement ID'd trading currency and phase out old paper cash. This will also serve as your national ID. This is needed to fight against money laundering used to fund this attack. The end goal will be that no person can trade without this new currency. And any illicit activity can easily be traced and stopped. I am asking our congress to pass this bill immediately. We will also be asking our allies to quickly adopt similar measures. We are facing a determined and powerful enemy. We will spare no effort in keeping our nation secure. We will hit back hard and mercilessly at these perpetrators. This is a moment of real test between who our allies are. Together, we shall win this war."

Henry, a cabinet minister who was at the plane when the vice president was sworn in, remembered the VP frantically listing the provisions for the proposed bill. He was surprised at the speed at which Jacob James was able to come up with all these measures. Henry frowns a bit when the new president mentioned in his speech that the cabinet members and him drafted the bill. It was more like the president presented the bill and said this had to pass quickly. But it is just a small technicality. He is after all the President now. This is no time to be questioning the commander in chief.
Chapter 2 – A World Apart

_  
Iceland_ _-_ _The_ _Near_ _Future_

Gracy Diaz has just finished dining with a client. She realizes there is not much time to waste and she better get on the road to catch her flight out of Iceland. Thank God she can catch a nap on the drive to the airport. As she approaches her car, she sends a signal using her brainwaves to the remote in her pocket. It then instructs the car to unlock and open the door.

Back in 2011, brainwave control is just starting to become reality. But experimental and actual working products are rare and require the subject to wear a helmet. While it is not quite mind control, Gracy can easily learn to produce a certain brainwave fluctuation unique enough to be recognized and programmed for a specific task. In this case, to instruct the remote to signal the car to unlock and open the door. Training is no more difficult than teaching those old cellphones, especially those from first decade of the century, to use the voice activation feature.

She gets into her car and puts on her seat belt, ready for a nap. This car is only a rental, but she has a similar car at home. A Quodous J50. A self-driving electric vehicle packed with extras. Dashboardless display. All displays are on the windshield and can be turned on or off. If turned off, it automatically comes on if there is emergency or urgent message, such as the power running low. As much as she loves this car, it still needs gas for long distance travel. Gas mileage is way better than old cars but gas prices continue to rise. She is eagerly awaiting the new electric car being branded as the Zeus 1. It has an advance battery that can hold a charge for up to 500km. Charging takes only minutes. It's ready by the time you go to washroom and get your coffee. Gas stocks are sure to fall if that car launches and hits the market successfully.

She turns her windshield into a mirror for few seconds just to look at herself. She still looks fresh even though she has been at a meeting the whole day. It must be the environment also. Her client has chosen a nice place. A famous resort in Iceland. She even gets to relax at the geothermal spa. Although she has thick, long hair, it always looks tidy. The top of her hair looks like waves parting to both sides, curving and flowing down on either side. Her dark brown hair turns dark blond under direct sunlight. Her eyes are gentle but intense at the same time. Her eyebrows are naturally thicker near the temple and thinning outward. Her lips spread out in a heart shape that appears like she is always smiling even when she is holding a neutral facial expression. Her teeth are perfect, making her even more adorable when she laughs. Her fair Spanish skin remains unblemished. Her chest projects a posture that exudes confidence. She is used to men turning their heads, and being whistled at by some less discreet admirers. But her busy work has made her put aside settling down except for a few dates every now and then.

The car starts and taxis out of the parking lot. It does not take long for her to fall asleep. There was a lot of anxiety when the driverless car was first introduced. But it has proven to be safer than a driven car. Gracy once drove in Pennsylvania with a car similar to this one. This one is equipped with thermal imaging sensor. The car detects a deer closeby in the dark of the night and slows down to a speed that allows for sudden brake, calculating for the chance that the deer would run across the street from its current location. Sure enough, the deer tried to run across and the car put on the brakes immediately. It wakes her from her sleep but danger was averted and there is no damage to the car nor injury to her and the deer. This rental car also has a black ice detector. A laser would scan the road ahead for any sign of black ice. Gracy imagined this would be very useful here in Iceland during the winter.

It did not take long for Gracy's car to reach the airport. As the car approaches the airport, a driven car suddenly swerves to cut her car off. Seconds before, her windshield blinks a warning that there is a driven car with no transponder. All cars now have a transponder that also allows the cars to communicate their position and speed with each other. So a sudden brake or collision on a highway are communicated instantly to all cars. But there are a few renegade drivers like this one who refuse to use transponders. Gracy's car automatically calculated increased risk factors upon detecting such cars and was able to stop albeit forcefully to avoid a collision. Gracy cursed under her breath.

She finally arrives at the airport, gets off her car, pulls out her luggage and throws the car's remote in the passenger seat, and then closes the door. She then enters a code in the car's door lock which will automatically drive the car back to the rental place.

She has an hour to kill before her flight leaves. She loves Iceland and she tells herself that she has to come back for a non-business related vacation next time. Iceland has become prosperous despite being one of the few countries who opted out of the Motherland Defence Initiative heavily pushed by U.S. and its allies following the November 11, 2011 attack.

Gracy decides to go the bar to use up her remaining Icelandic krona. While the U.S. and its allies are all now a cashless society, Iceland still prints money.

As she sits down, she hears a heated discussion about recent pressure from the world's "Common Market Consortium" for Iceland to sign on to the common currency trade treaty. One elderly Icelander is gesturing angrily.

"Iceland suffered during the economic crisis of 2008 because our government gave in and deregulated the banking industry. What it did was allowed fraudsters to have their ways, fraudulently borrowing money and manipulating our banks."

Gracy is not sure how true that claim is, but she decides to move closer and listen in on the

conversation.

"Iceland recovered quicker than others by breaking with established economic tradition and deviating from what international lending agency would consider acceptable practices. We defy the norms of taxpayers bailing out banks and instead let some of those bank went under. We stopped the bank from transferring our money out of the country."

Another elderly gentleman then questioned the old man. "But don't you think the Netherlands and U.K. borrowers deserves to be paid back since they were also defrauded and enticed with high savings interest? And isn't the Iceland government complicit in not keeping an eye on the banks?"

"Why don't they go after the executives instead of asking Icelanders to bail out the fraudster. Sequester all their assets and offshore wealth. You know, petty criminals are prosecuted more than executives who stole billions of dollars from the people. Some of the executives often just get away with it or get a slap on the hand. They even get to keep their stolen and laundered cash."

The old man catches his breath, and then continues. "Just like the pressure we are facing now to sign on to the treaty, back then the pressure was about deregulating the bank, which was promoted as a good thing. Company who control billion of dollar of our money don't need supervision is what they are saying. The popular claim is they are just good citizens who provide jobs. We are heading in that direction again. And they want us to sign on and give up our independence in managing our finances? "

Gracy sees how Iceland's past experiences are making its citizens wary of getting on board with most of the developed countries.

Aboard the plane, Gracy turns on her rectangular prism computer unit, which looks like a 2 inch high ruler with a built-in projector. It is common for people to project it onto a white wall like the one behind the plane's chair. It also projects a display of a keyboard layout onto the table. She connected to the planes network connection to check her messages. The plane then took off and headed for New York.

_  
Shanghai,_ _China_

Meanwhile at the other side of the world, Ray Carter has just finished signing a deal to rent a transponder on a Chinese Satellite. This will be used to broadcast his new network to Asia.

Ray arrives at his newly rented office that houses his Asian coordinators. The space is not big but just adequate for a staff of 5. Ray Carter's star is rising as a millionaire philanthropist.

Dressed casually but looking confident and at ease, his dirty blond hair is as perfectly straight and neat as his clothes are. He has a slightly deep-set blue eyes. His thin pouty lips, long eye lashes and skinny V shape face makes him look young and naive. But there is nothing naive about Ray Carter. Now in his mid-forties, he continues to enjoy entrepreneurial success. His sense of innovation has lead to a continued rise in his fortune starting from when he was 30 years old. But rather than enjoying a lavish lifestyle with his wealth, he continues to find ways to help the marginalized and disadvantaged, spending his money wisely. His current project is the "Crowd-Sourced Net." A Free-to-Air satellite TV network broadcasting to various parts of the world. While internet is prevalent already, some parts of the world have monopolistic company throttling down on speed and racking up the cost of access, making satellite service still a cost saving option.

But Ray's intent is to share knowledge and what is going on around the world with people in less developed part of the world. His foundation has developed programming to educate about corruption and how to be a smart voter. For Ray, a lot of failures of new democracies are due to voters' naivety and ignorance about corruption.

Fortunately, it is now more affordable to rent a satellite transponder compared to decades ago. It used to cost tens of thousands per month. Each satellite in orbit carries several transponders that are rented out by the satellite owner. The transponder processes the data signal that is uplinked to the satellite in orbit. It is then downlinked to all satellites dishes on earth. The personal satellite dishes are setup to receive the signal. Since the signals from Ray's network are Free-to-Air (FTA), anybody with the equipment can receive the signals.

As he gives his presentation, an image of a satellite beaming down on a 3D image of the globe on parts of Asia is projected on a wall screen. It highlights their expected coverage area.

"The Crowd-sourced Net has been broadcasting to the Americas, Europe and Africa. So I am glad to be bringing it to Asia. The advance in digital compression technology means each transponder can now carry many more channels. So one of our top viewed independently made movies and documentaries can be given its own channel that ran 24 hours allowing people to watch them pretty much anytime," Ray explained to his attentive staff.

"Our user-submitted content is a huge success, and gratuities are pouring in for the creators. The top-voted contents are of very high quality and are keeping our lineups full. With the latest technology, making a good special effect movie has become more affordable for aspiring movie makers. Our system of letting viewers up vote and down vote makes good quality works standout.

Ray has witnessed how the movie and music industry have changed. Quality independent movies have forced big movie studios to lower what they charge for after movie theatres rental. Most have already switched to flat service fee per month. They resisted for a while. Despite the lower overhead cost involved with the switch to digital media, they have tried to stick to a fee of $5 to $6 per movie, claiming it is needed to finance blockbuster movies. But the truth Ray has learned is, if a big budget big studio movie failed at the movie theatres, after-theatre sales are even worse. So either they make it at the release of the movie or not. With the advancement of technology, the digital production cost for after-movie is also pretty much nil.

Movie theatres still exist with innovative technology to offer more a immersive experience. Theatres have many other amenities, making them a famous social gatherings. Some movie makers opt to release their film online at the same time as it is released at the movie theatres, charging the same price as individual movie tickets. Afterwards, it goes to the online repository where people pay a monthly fee to access the whole library of films as old as when movie making first started, and as fresh as recently ended movie run or premiere. Movies that are accessed more often with high ratings are awarded percentage of the monthly earnings. People can also provide gratuities to the creators for work that they really like. Lots of independent filmmakers are skipping third party marketers all together.

The landscape of the music industry has also changed with the rise of independent artist marketing their music directly. The old music industry has diminished influence but still has considerable influence in government. Early 2000 saw the industry struggle to adopt to the new technology. An industry that is used to charging $30 for an album with only a few good songs refused to change their business model. They refused to pass on the savings of what is now zero production cost of digital distribution and try to stick with CD distribution pricing model. They opted instead to lobby for law that increases censorship on the internet and roll back safeguards of civil liberties and privacy. And when they finally started to adopt to the new technology, they insisted on getting paid $1 to $3 per song with excessive restriction and digital lock. For an era of having multiple media devices in bedroom, living room, computer and portable devices, the restriction was considered outrageous and people started boycotting them. Some artists started opting for open licensing and appreciative fans' direct contribution. Lots of them receive more revenue from the direct payment without sharing revenue and giving up the rights to their works.

While Ray's company does show independent work from artists, the main drive is information and education. Ray finished his presentation about their plans for Asia and switched off the projector. "Part of your job is to gather news here in Asia that is being missed by the main stream media. These will be added to our 'Just Facts' news network. So make sure your news is balanced and unbiased. Give out those cheap portable HD camera to each impoverished village and let them made their own documentary about their lives. Help set up infrastructure by donating some satellite dishes and equipment and provide local villages with television to keep them abreast of development in the world. Also distribute those $10 basic tablets to those villages. Our program would also include education for sustainability and how to be self-sufficient, customized for the needs of various regions."

"Also, see if there is any unique problem for the region that we can add to our 'anti-corruption and self-sustenance' education channel. Feel free to think of creative programming to empower the people. I have to catch my flight back to New York. But feel free to call me anytime."

Ray leaves his company's new Asian office and hops on to a rental self-drive car. Ray usually likes to drive car manually. But today, he just wants to sit back and take in the sight of Shanghai. His car has a roof-to-floor see through gas panel that can be tinted if needed. He reclined his seat and relaxed. China had struggled to control the amount of cars in the street. Although the self-drive car has greatly increased the maximum speed and improved traffic efficiency, millions of people driving their own car is still not sustainable. So they have encouraged commuting. Car pooling to public transit system has become a norm. There are also drive and drops where people can rent a car for few dollars and just leave it at the public transport station.

Ray looks to the side of the road and see all roads have bike lanes with a steel bar separating them from the cars zooming by. Right lanes of the road just before the bike lane are for people who choose to drive manually. But they are required by law to have a transponder on board to communicate with all other cars. Lots of pedestrian crossing path have been created that are overpasses or underpasses. One lane is for express. Stair escalators go up and become a moving walkway with a speed faster than escalators and moving walkways of the early 2000. It moves the huge amount of people faster.

He is amazed at how fast China's system of government has changed. There was no revolution. Just the young generation members of their single party system gradually pushing for reform. There was initial resistant from the more senior officials. But with increased economic freedom, yearning for more personal freedom comes naturally.

Ray remembered looking up the history of Korea and noticing that when there used to be two Koreas, the south Korean economic prosperity had lead to their dictatorship giving way to democracy in an orderly fashion. The same had happened in China.

Although one of his young staff have told him about the initial tension between the youth reformist and traditional senior politician. They refuse to use the word democracy for fear of "losing face" and appearing to be capitulating to their old "western power nemesis." They have settled to keep the name National People's Congress. Although it remains a one party system, all representatives are now elected at the local level. It has lessened opposition from the senior officials paving the way for a full representative system. The mandate of each representative is to consult and inform their constituents. After finally agreeing to the reform, the old timer's lament to the youth about how the Eight Power Allied Forces consisting of Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly invaded China. One of Ray's young staffer have related that part of history to him once. "They looted and burned our national treasure, including a lavish Emperor's garden." She says it sounding like she just lost a priced personal possession. "Women were raped and bayoneted," she continued. Ray remembers reading a historical account from a U.S. soldier who witnessed such acts committed by some of the allied forces.

Ray had replied to his young Chinese staffer that from what he knows of that part of history, the allied forces were responding to the Boxer rebellion, which had attacked foreigners. His staff replied that the rebels were attacking foreign occupation. Then he went on to tell Ray about the forced Opium trade and the "Unequal Treaty." He talks about discrimination and being segregated in their own land. There were signs posted in foreign quarters that said 'Dogs and Chinese Not Allowed' in much the same way as signs in U.S. posted back in the days saying "No coloured people allowed." Such tales of humiliation were carried down from generations to generations of Chinese like a plague of shame.

Ray is amazed at how something that happened in the late 1800s to early 1900s can still carry such resentment and mistrust more than a century after. It is also a potent weapon for politician to rile up nationalist sentiments.

The ride to the airport doesn't take long. Ray's car automatically parked at the inter-continental express terminal, from where he gets to travel on a spaceship for an express flight back to New York. The spaceship takes off as a shuttle with wings retracted. Unlike the earlier versions of spaceships for space tourists, which only travelled vertically up to the orbit then back down to near launch site, travelling between Asia and North America involves horizontal space travel. About 5 minutes for the boost phase and vertical takeoff. It takes about 2 hours in total from takeoff to horizontal travel and landing. Ray has travelled on these flight only for a couple of times. But he is pretty sure he would never get tired of the view from above.

_  
New_ _York_ _City_

Back in New York City, Ray has a hard time sleeping so he decides to go to a famous bar. Classy but not too upper class. While he is seated at a bar, his eyes wander to a lady who has just entered the building. As if sensing his eyes, the lady turns to look at him also. She smiles and decides to go where he is and orders a drink. Ray quickly reaches out to the bartender to pay for her drink. She has an amused look and tilts her head to the right side and smiles. "Thanks," she says.

"You are very welcome. I am Ray," reaching out to shake her hand. She smiles and says, "I am Gracy," and shakes his hands.
Chapter 3 – Crime and Punishment

_  
New_ _York_ _City_

Ray is awoken by a shaft of sunlight making its way in through a small slit in the curtains. He stretches out and looks over at Gracy who appears to still be in deep sleep. He can't believe it's already ten o'clock. Both he and Gracy must be really tired. But it was a great night. He slowly got up and lightly moves up the comforter to cover Gracy while appreciating her features. He thinks about stroking her face but decides against disturbing her deep sleep.

He jumps in the shower quickly then dries himself off and puts on his polo shirt and dress pants. He goes to the kitchen. His house sensor senses his presence and automatically turns on the wall screen. A good looking lady comes on and started reading news off the net. The lady is a computer animation customized by Ray. But she looks very real with all the imperfections of a human face. He even gave her a name. He calls her Amy. Amy starts reading the headlines title. Ray immediately heard something about an accident involving Zeus 1. He then instructs Amy, "More about Zeus 1." Amy then interrupts her enumeration of the headline title and starts reading the content of the news.

"This morning, the Zeus 1, a next generation electric car touted as the car that will make oil obsolete, was involved in an fiery accident. One of the Zeus 1, being driven by one of the early testers, has exploded, killing its occupant."

Ray is shocked and sits down on one of the kitchen bar chairs. His shoulder sags forward as if he is carrying a heavy load. He then turns his attention back to Amy and commands  
"show video." Amy immediately complies with a video of the scene showing a fiery car and later on a charred steel.

Gracy walks in and sees Ray. "Good morning," she says with a wide smile and notices his ashen face. She then turns toward the wall screen. She commands the screen "replay last report." And Amy replays everything, starting from detailed report of the accident. Gracy covers her mouth with her hands in shock. "Oh no."

"With just days to its official launch and this happens." Ray grimly observes. Ray then looks at Gracy. "I have to go visit an old friend. Help yourself and make yourself feel at home. I have to find out what is happening. Ray looked at Gracy apologetically. Gracy touches Ray arms to comfort him. Go ahead, I can take care of myself. I'll see what I can find out from my contacts also. Ray nodded and moved to kiss her cheek. He holds her arm before turning to rushed out.

_  
Silicon_ _Valley_

    In Kitrics headquarter, the maker of Zeus 1, Oleg Oborski rushes to his office early in the morning for an emergency meeting. He was rudely awoken from his sleep. Had he known the day would going to start badly, he would not have gone out and drunk so late last night.  Oleg looks distressed and tired and the day has barely begun. All these years of hard work threaten to just evaporate after the breaking news this morning spread like wildfire across various news channel. All the hard work for nothing is not what causes him most grief. Instead, it is the thought that all the hard earned cash by his parents, which he inherited after they passed away in a fatal accident, is about to disappear. His parents were immigrants and worked really hard first, as vendors in a market, and then eventually they used their savings to open a convenience store. They never settled and kept growing their business to make sure Oleg and his two sisters would have a comfortable life and education, something they did not have while growing up.  How could this happen? They made sure they did their safety test over and over again. He has already called one of his men to see what he could gather from the site of the accident, and he has tried to call his contacts in the police department to see if he could get more information. He keeps having flashbacks of the media's pronouncement on TV and radio this morning. "It is an unproven technology and the quick rise in stock value were driven by hype." He has never met that reporter. Why would he pretend to know so much? One anonymous supposedly ex-employee of Kitrics with his face blacked out claims that the technology has been shown to not work as advertised and they've been having problems. Oleg can't believe his ears. Who is feeding all this misinformation? How could the media get on the anonymous person so quick right after the accident?  Turning to business channels, he saw a report about the plunging Kitrics stocks. Just as he thought the day could not get any worse. One of his employee rushed in to say the FBI have a warrant to confiscate all their documents including the car's design.    
    New York City Police Precinct Eldon got called in early to help investigate the explosive event this morning. But soon after cordoning off the scene, FBI arrived and claimed jurisdiction over the case, claiming possible corporate fraud. They cordoned off and intend to take all parts from the accident with them. Eldon's boss did not object, thinking the federal laboratory and forensic team would be able to better handle the investigation of the cause, which was very likely caused by a new technology nobody and his department would have any clue about. Eldon exchanged contacts with his FBI counterparts.

This morning's casualty was the first one for this precinct in months. Crime rates have been falling since they ramped up rehabilitation efforts and provided more care for prisoners. The principle of rehabilitating people to soften criminals influenced by the surroundings they grew up in has caught on. It has replaced the jail-and-forget punishment approach. But recently, there was a big corporation who lobbied hard to build a state of the art super-jail. It could house thousands of people. Funding has been approved. Eldon wonders if they are expecting an influx of crime. He also wonders why they don't use the funds to increase rehabilitation funding in other crime infested areas or at least increase the police forces there. Politicians who use crime fighting as their campaign slogan are instead cutting police forces and using funds to build super-jail.

Eldon is prepared to be occupied for the rest of the day, but he suddenly finds himself in his office for the rest of the afternoon. He decides to get some coffee at their cafeteria. As he looks for a seat, he sees Nolan Hudson, their cybercrime department super-cop, and decides to sit with him. Nolan Hudson is a nerd but does not look like your stereotypical nerd. Working in the police department, he religiously goes to the gym to buff up his body and to look less nerdy and skinny beside the other officers.

"Hi Nolan, how are you doing?" Eldon asks.

"Here, getting bogged down with identity theft cases." Nolan does not sound please.

"What has changed?"

"Nothing has changed. Based on our statistics, cybercrime has been increasing since the Motherland Defence Initiative (MDI) law was passed. Now that more and more countries are adopting that law, the problem has just skyrocketed worldwide. There has also been unusual rise in cybercrime and personal financial theft here on our precinct alone."

"What does MDI have to do with an increase in cybercrime?" Eldon said.

"MDI pretty much got rid of any protection of privacy that existed before. This makes it easier for criminals to steal people's information. The cashless currency also makes people more vulnerable to online theft like never before. With credit cards, consumer don't feel the effect directly. Losses by credit card companies from fraud's write offs are passed onto consumers through higher interest rates and fees. "

"Why doesn't the government do something about that?"

"The government wants to be able to spy on everyone, so they mandated data retention and weakened encryption by ISP. They don't want to give that up. Corporations are pretty happy that they are able to monitor people's activity to customize their sales pitch for them. So the two end up working very nicely together in the background. Losses are shouldered by each individual. Cybercriminals are switching to more subtle stealing. Rather than stealing directly from people's cashless currency, which usually results in huge outcry from the people, they steal their identity and use it for illegal activity instead. It is a pain trying to sort through who are innocents and who have their identity stolen. Cases of innocents being charged are increasing as a result of huge backlog on our court."

"Aren't you working on any high level fraud and corruption cases?"

"Yes, even that is not looking very promising. The irony of MDI is people's activities are increasingly scrutinized while the government's disclosures continue to decrease in the name of national security. Government e-mail is exempt from the MDI and on one corruption case that I am working on, all e-mails have been deleted or documents have been permanently blacked out."

"Why doesn't anyone speak out against this?"

"Believe me I've tried. But after the Ordo Tribus XI attack, people are scared shitless. The government also did a good job of promoting it as a necessary evil. That it is better to surrender some rights than to have you or your love ones killed. Which kind of reminds me of that quote from Benjamin Franklin - 'Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety'."

"What ever happened to that case that you mentioned? The actor claiming the media hacked into his account."

"We have some leads but not much. The Solara media claim a source gave them the video. The video is an unflattering video of the actor with a lady during an online chat that they have before he became famous. My theory is Solara is able to tap into the vast resources of saved online activity record kept as part of the data retention requirement of MDI. How do you think they were able to have breaking news and scandals day after day? Viewers like sensationalism and so Solara's rating shot up. Other networks, seeing Solara's profit rise, are trying to play catchup discarding less profitable and life endangering investigative journalism."

"Can't you charge Solara?"

"No direct evidence to implicate them. They cover their tracks well. We interviewed the lady in the video who chatted with the actor, and she claims someone coerced her into admitting she recorded the video, but the truth is she did not record their chat. Which means whoever obtained that video got it from the data retention repository. But by Solara claiming an anonymous source gave it to them, they have plausible deniability. Solara has replaced tabloid journalism, which used to make up scandalous news. Now they can get all scandals that they can get their hands on online. By the looks of it there is nowhere that they cannot go. I think Solara has very powerful connections."

"Looks like you've got your work cut out for you."

"No kidding."

"Well good luck. I'll see you later."

Eldon then heads to his office. Just as he is settling into his desk, his phone rings. He does not have an office phone, just his cellphone. It is an ordinary cellphone, like everyone else's. Built in to a rectangular shaped watch whose screen extends from the wrist to just before the forearm area. To answer the phone, he pulls out a strip that is inserted into the watch. The strip is an earphone that fits to his ear. The front reception desk tells him a Ray Carter is here to see him. His face lights up. "Go ahead, sent him in." He has not seen Ray for a while. They went through a lot when they were kids, and he was glad Ray was there to help him.

Ray was about to knock when Eldon swings his office door open. "Hi Ray how have you been?"

"Good." They forego the pleasantries and get down to business. "Listen, I need to know about this morning's fatal accident involving the Zeus 1."

"Oh that one. Well the FBI took over, claiming possible corporate fraud."

"What! Are they out of their mind?"

"Is there something you know that I don't?"

"Kitrics, the owner of the company who made Zeus 1, is a personal friend of mine. I saw the design myself and invested huge amounts to help them get it out of the door. I can tell you that there is no corporate fraud. The design works. Something else must have happened."

Eldon is not expecting this. "I will try to see what I can find. But I am leaving for Canada tomorrow to visit my brother."

Ray decides not to push harder. "Okay, I am sorry to be so abrupt this morning. I just feel like something is not quite right here. I did not realize the FBI took over so quickly."

Ray paused to ponder his option and decided to leave Eldon alone. "Anyway, I shall trouble you no more. Have a good trip."

"Yeah, I'll see if I can get anything out of my FBI contact before I leave."

"We should get together when you come back from your trip."

"Yeah sure."

"I better check on Oleg. My friend from Kitrics. Call me when you are back in town."

"OK. Take it easy."

_  
JFK_ _International_ _Airport_

As Eldon is walking to his gate at the airport, he sees a guy who reminds him of an incomplete sketch from an old file that he came across. Similar features but his lips are bigger. He was retrieving a file from the cold case when he encountered that file. It was just a page from what could be from a police report. The page had a few paragraphs describing a hacker with the alias "Caliphate." There was an incomplete sketch of his face that was scratched out and a note that said "see attached." It described the man's crime as a criminal hacking and stealing laptops. He paid drug addicts to steal discarded personal financial information from people who thought their records were going to the landfill. He targeted wealthy neighbourhoods or financial firms where employees, rather surprisingly, throw out sensitive information in recycling bins instead of shredding them.

Caliphate also used drug addicts to open bank accounts, which he then used to move money that he stole online and offline. Caliphate boasted to his interrogator that any Microsoft computer that people and corporations still used could easily be cracked. Password protected laptops gave the user a false sense of security, for he could easily boot externally to access all records in the hard drive. Businessmen's laptops were his favourite target. He would just sit and observe people on Wall Street to look for a potential victim. Once he got access to the laptop, he could either image the drive or sometimes just run away with the laptop. He got many of those companies' client's personal information that way and was able to acquire credit in their names.

What puzzles Eldon about that paper was that there was no usual form like those from an official police report, just that one page. Also no traces could be found on their database. His boss seemed disinterested when he told him about it. Asking him to concentrate on his actual case and not worry about misplaced junk found on old case files. It might be nothing more than an incomplete draft with inaccurate information. The final copy that was filed might have the right alias and corrected information.

Eldon was not so sure. His boss did not return the paper to him, discarding it in a pile of paper on top of his table. But Eldon had already scanned that mysterious one page document to his computer.
Chapter 4 – Just Visiting

    A loud bang woke Arowin up from his sleep inside the forest that is his home. He is an indigenous inhabitant of that forest. One of the few left in this world. The trees are gigantic, and Arowin's shelter is inside a cave whose only exit is the side hole near the top of one of those gigantic trees. The tree serves as a tunnel to the exit at the top. He removes his blanket which is the skin of a wolf-like creature. He decides to go check out and see what is going on. He skips over stepping rocks across the underground river then climbs up through the slanted tree that curves up after about 30 feet. Arowin then grabs onto a thick vine hanging down from the top. He swings side to side on the inside of the 25 foot diameter tree, climbing a few steps after reaching each side. Keeping the motion going and swinging from side to side, he then grabs onto a hole near the top and peeks outside and sees a group of soldiers passing by with one soldier shooting indiscriminately with a weapon that looks like a bazooka. The soldier is trying to shoot at a hidrome, a creature that looks like a moose but with a thick shell on its body. They obviously want his shell to use as an armour. Arowin recognizes the army; they are from the rival clan of Arowin's people. They are obviously unaware that they have entered Arowin's tribe territory. He will have to alert his tribe. He could blow a whistle that sounds like one of the exotic bird here. But he chose not to make any sound for fear of alerting the trespassers. He sent a skuadia instead, a chameleon-like animal with long flexible back legs like a kangaroo. It can jump between trees and over long distances without making any noise. The bottom of his feet are tiny pores that allow it to grab onto a tree. Like a pigeon, it has a homing capability, able to find its way back home even over long distances. This made them ideal for delivering messages. Arowin attaches an animal skin to its back with a specific symbol to alert the other members of their tribe. As more and more members are alerted, a unique bird sound was sounded. Arowin recognizes that as a ready signal. The next sound would signify an attack.  The trespassers don't know what hit them immediately after the second weird bird call sounded. They are being attacked from all sides by indigenous people wearing only loincloths. Arowin sees their leader in full armour and grabs onto a lianas vine and swings toward the leader. The leader turns around just as Arowin lands. Both of them draw their swords, and a duel ensues. Arowin's head is an inch away from being chopped off if he have not swerved and back off. The leader quickly recovers and sweeps the sword right back at Arowin. Arowin swings his sword up in time to block the sword but the force throws him back a bit. He can see from his peripheral vision that one of the trespassers has pointed an arrow in his direction. He quickly flips several times dodging the arrow and the leader's sword. He ends up beside a dead soldier. He quickly picks up two throw knives laying beside the dead soldier. Arowin quickly makes an advance to attack the leader again but at the same time throws the knife to the side impaling the arrow man who was trying to grab a new arrow. Arowin jumps to attack the leader. The leader smiles, thinking he has him this time for sure. As soon as Arowin jumps, he throws the other knife that was hidden below his arm. The knive heads in the leader's direction. The leader's eyes widen, and he quickly uses his sword to block the knife. As he tries to raise his sword again, Arowin's sword lands right on his neck, the part that does not have any armour. The wide, shocked eye of the leader just stares at Arowin as he slowly falls to the ground.  Arowin quickly moves to help his clan members. But he suddenly hears a loud horn. "Darn!" He exclaims in frustration. He knows what that is and know that only he can hear it. He signals to one of his clan members that he is retreating. His clan mate nods in acknowledgement.  Arowin jumps back into his tree and pulls aside the thick branches to reveal the entrance to his home. He jumps down into the tree and sees flashes of lights, like a wormhole passing through. He lands in a crouching position. Then everything turns black.  He removes his cover-over eyeglass, and his eyes are greeted by a bright light. "Darn, I forgot to shut the blinds." Cedric O'Ryan puts down his eyeglasses and steps down from the platform. He is sweating a lot. He runs to open the door and is greeted by a smiling Eldon.   "So how is my little brother doing?" Cedric smiles back, "Good to see you. But I thought you would not be here until later." "Yeah, I was going to stop by to buy something but thought I could do that later. And what are you up to sweating like that?" "I was just playing the game 'Izaron's Realm' on the Exploratron." Cedric then shows his brother the gear. It consists of a big round platform with a bit of railing in front and the back. The bottom part looks like a treadmill with rubber that can move and rotate. It has an eyeglass covering up to the peripheral side to simulate a 3D environment including his peripheral vision. Overhead, a few feet up is a rope that Cedric used for the game. Other games' specific paraphernalia and other add-ons can be installed on side or overhead.  "Impressive." Eldon observes.  "Yeah. A good workout too." Cedric says flexing his arm and shoulder muscle.  Eldon then tugs on the rope hanging down and asks, "So this is the vine you used in your abode?" "Yeah. You want to try?" "Nah. Maybe some other time." "I have the skipping duck game. You just have to jump, that's all." "Haha. I can take you on a more challenging game than that." "Your pick." "Maybe later. I want to go out for some fresh air." "By later are we talking hours, months or years?" said Arowin playfully. "I'll find a game I can beat you on one of these days, and we'll see if it would wipe the smirk on your face."  Cedric laughs and Eldon smiles and throws a towel at Cedric. "Do yourself a favour and wipe off that sweat." "So where do you want to go?" Cedric asks. "Just walk around the mountain."  "I have an idea. Let's go to my garage. I want to show you something." Cedric opens his garage door. Inside is a recumbent bicycle. A bicycle with a seat that is low to the ground, providing a low centre of gravity. The rider is seated in a laid-back position. It is wide with flexible wheel that can tilt and adjust to different terrain. It has a sail mounted on a pole above the rider. A computer display and processor rest in the bar between the legs.  "What's that?" Eldon wondered.  "A Sail bike I am working on. Hop on. I need a test subject"  "After you." Cedric then hops on. The processor in the dashboard lights up. As Cedric hits the pedal, the sail starts to adjust as the processor determines the wind direction and wind speed.  The battery power is complimented by power from the pedal. The processor automatically adjusts the sail to meet the rider speed setting. It can adjust the tightness of a rope to control the speed. The rope is equivalent to the main sheet of a sailboat. The sail can be retracted or automatically compressed to reduce drag. Cedric heads to the mountain and he is glad that the wind direction and gust is perfect and it helps the bike climb with ease. He then turns around and heads back to Eldon.  "OK, give me a parachute in case I go over the cliff." Eldon says. "The processor will take care of everything, just set your speed and turn where you want to go. You can also press the arrow on both handle to point where you will be turning like a signal light. Helpful if you want a quick change of direction."  "Great, put my life in the hands of a machine." Eldon complains but quickly starts pedalling. He then climbs up the mountains.   
    Banff, Alberta Eldon and Cedric rise early the next day to drive to Banff, few hours away from Cedric's place. They reached their destination to get their gear for some glacier rafting down the Kananakis River.  Eldon has kayaked a few times before but with a shorter kayak and not on a class 3 river. Beyond class 4 would be a great challenge even for the experienced kayakers. The water of mixed blue and green flowing down from the glacier is cold to the skin. But the brothers have wet suits on to keep them warm. The suits fit snuggly. They both jump into the water to let the water seep into their suits. It is intentionally designed to let some water in and stay there. The water inside the suit eventually warms up, providing a layer of warm water as insulation from the cold water outside.   They make their way to the first rapid called Widow Maker.  The flow is strong like a void sucking all the water towards a hole creating a big drop. It looks like a big tongue sticking out with water flowing down and lots of white water pushing up like a strong boiling motion. Eldon quickly moves his kayak to point downward. The drop down the rapids is exhilarating. They then make a run to the "Hollywood" hole to the left of the river. They move upstream in the eddy. Cedric digs the front of the kayak into the water and does a trick called cartwheeling. His kayak turns perpendicular. Using his body to turn the kayak, he digs the back into the water getting the same result. They go onto other similar play areas. One is called Point Break with what appears to be two waves of water downstream and upstream colliding creating a big ruckus and rolling waves. They play there for a bit, practising their cartwheeling. They then approach a rapid called Santa Claus, the largest wave yet. The surfing, rolling waves at the drop to the hole is pretty strong, throwing them up a little bit.  Some more waves follow them over stretch of several more feet down the river. The stretch of moving water appears like Santa Claus's beard. With adrenaline still pumping, they go to Green Tongue, a lighter Point Break, to play some more. Cedric then borrows a surf board from one of the guys resting there and does some surfing at the Green Tongue. He stays up for a good 3 minutes before falling and being swept away.  They then just chill out and take in the sights. Eldon takes a few pictures of an Elk with his new zoom lens. He zooms in on its head appreciating the huge antlers. He then starts to shoot videos.  As the sun is setting, they prepare their tents and start the campfire. As they sit there, Cedric says with a serious expression on his face, "I am going back to the U.S." Eldon gives him a puzzled look. Cedric continues, "I cannot pretend everything is OK. This place offers a good escape but I have to face reality." Cedric moved to Alberta after one of his friend died in a rally. He felt responsible for bringing his friend along and getting involved in politics. The rally was against the CEO of Pegasus Electric Corp who defrauded investors of millions of dollars causing a lot of people to declare bankruptcy. The corporation had contributed millions to the campaign of the current president. He is also rumoured to be close to the Secretary of Treasury. The Senate hearing was blocked and deemed as having insufficient evidence to proceed although no evidence have been presented yet. The day the decision was made, a group of black cloth hooded man charged in to join the rally and started rioting. One of the rubber bullet inadvertently hit his friend in the head. Eldon sighs, "There will always be corruption in this world. You cannot fight them all. It is part of nature." Cedric starts laughing, "I am sorry, but parasites and bacteria are part of nature. We don't just let them spread. We treat them and get rid of them." "All I am saying is you have to look after yourself. Let others take care of themselves." Eldon says as he point his camera to shoot a video of the milky way above.  Cedric eyes are transfixed at the sky. His mind is somewhere else. Half a minute passes before he says anything. "That's what I thought when I moved here. But my mind can't rest knowing injustices are going on. I would hate to live in a world where everybody just look after themselves. My friend's death made me realize how abruptly our life could end. Just like that."  Cedric flicks his finger then looks back up at the stars. "Look at all the stars, we are just like a small stars in the huge galaxy. If we perish, our energy and light will just continue to shine. Like a star, it might seem small in the wider scope of things, but together it enlivens the world." Eldon knows his brother well. He knows there is no way of talking him out of it. "Whatever you decide. But just be careful." Eldon then stops shooting video and tucks the unit away.  Cedric looked him in the eye and nodded. They then do some catching up over campfire, talking about good old times and laughing. They drink until they finally stumble their way into the tent and fall asleep.    
    Barcelona, Spain It was a nice sunny day in Barcelona. Not a cloud can be seen in the sky. A group of friends are strolling down La Rambla, a famous pedestrian street in old town part of Barcelona. The huge middle lane is bustling with people and street performers. People just sitting down in chairs under the umbrellas. Cristobal was especially upbeat today. He is glad to see his childhood friend Angelino come for a visit from Italy.  They are joined by Cristobal's friends Diego, a short guy. But what he lacks in height he makes up for it in width. His girlfriend Paulina that Cristobal had a crushed on in high school is holding Diego's hand and swinging them as they walk along the street.  After a few drinks and some chat, they decide to head to another friend's place. Jacinto invited them over for dinner and to just hang out for the night. Two other girl are also there, Julia and Leticia. Jacinto introduces them to his friends. And Cristobal introduces Angelino to his friends. Julia started flirting with Angelino, touching his thin v-shaped side burns. "I like your hair. It's so smooth, it's like painted over." Angelino just smiles. Angelino reminds Julia of one of her classmate. High hairline, narrow eyes, octagonal face with mouth that is a bit protruded. She used to tease that classmate that he looks sophisticated like a Spanish Dick Tracy detective type. "Julia snap out of it!" Jacinto flicks his finger in front of her face. Everyone laughed. "So who wants to come play futbol with me on Sunday?" Jacinto inquires.  "I can't on a Sunday morning remember?" Diego replies. "Oh yeah the church thing." Jacinto smirks. "You should start believing in God Jacinto or you might go to hell." Paulina interjects.  Jacinto thinks to himself. "Here we go, Paulina is being preachy again." "I go to church regularly but I don't think that necessarily makes me better than people who don't go to church or believe in God." Leticia, a petite lady, spoke. Her voice is as soft and cute as her appearance. "In fact, I think if there is a judgement day, people like Jacinto will probably be let in instead of some religious leader like that Reverend David Patrick who swindles naive people's money and calls for people to be murdered. He is the agent of devil for getting conscientious people to lose faith in God. I think it's not what you claim to believe in but what you do that matters." "OK this is getting too deep for me. I am just going to go hacking."  Cristobal says. "Aren't you scared of getting caught?" Julia asks. "No. Hacking simply means tinkering with stuff. That's how it has always been. Either it's a hobbyist trying to study how electronics work, or modify a device or build their own. It used to be you can just play around with stuff without worrying about breaking the law. The late founder of the once famous Apple firm, Steve Jobs, hacked his way to fame. And computer programming took off because of open source developers. People are free to program without fear of facing patent charges. So people can improve other works and build on it. That's innovation! By encouraging tinkering or hacking, you help encourage future innovators. Not this anti-competitive, monopolistic and protectionist patent treaty that the Common Market Consortium is trying to push nowadays. Now you can go to jail for breaking a digital lock that the company put in to prevent you from discovering flaws or malware in their programs. Or figure out that the their program itself was stolen from others." Cristobal senses he has lost Julia so decides to stop. Angelino just nods.  Jacinto then offered Cristobal a drink. "Everyone who likes to innovate is a hacker." Jacinto paused before continuing. "You know when lots of otherwise law abiding citizen are being accused of breaking the law en masse then maybe the law is broken and unfair." Loud steps can suddenly be heard from the stairs outside. Jacinto was just going to walk toward the door to see what's going on when their door suddenly swings open and group of SWAT police charge in.  "Everyone down on the floor now!" shouts one of the guy who looks like their leader.  "Who is Angelino!?" Angelino slowly raises his hand while lying on the floor in his stomach. They quickly charge him and handcuff him. The SWAT leader then informs Angelino of his rights and his charges. One word stands out that makes him cringe like someone hit him in the stomach. "Murder of Alfredo Costa." He is quickly taken to the police precinct. If there is any silver lining from his arrest, he is being arrested for murder, not terrorism under the Motherland Defence Initiative treaty of which Italy and Spain are signatories. That means he can talk to his family and get a lawyer and find out what is really going on. Because there must be some serious mistake.    
    Police Precinct in Barcelona Cristobal rushes to the precinct as fast as he can, but he has to wait until the next day before they let him see Angelino. Glass windows separate both of them. Both are glad to see each other. Angelino looks distressed. They pick up the phone. "Cristobal, they are deporting me to Italy. They said I killed a person named Alfredo Costa. I think he is the person I got in an altercation with. Which is impossible since he was perfectly fine when I left the bar."  "Maybe they will sort this out. They'll realize they make a mistake." Critstobal says trying to sound positive for his friend.  "No, Cristobal, they said they have my fingerprint on the gun."  Cristobal eyes widen. "Listen, Cristobal. Look at me." Cristobal does not know what to think. He thought he knew his friend. "Look at me!" Angelino repeats sounding agitated. Cristobal raises his head up and looks at his friend's eye. "I did not do it! I am being framed. Remember what I told you about what I referred to as the Godfather file?" Cristobal nods nervously. "I think it has something to do with that."  Cristobal whispers, "But the fingerprint..."  "I can't explain it nor do I understand how that is possible. But I need you to trust me."  Cristobal stares into his friend's eyes. He has known Angelino long enough that he can easily detect if he is lying. But he is pretty sure he is telling the truth.  The Godfather file would get people killed but didn't Angelino said no one know about it?  Their visiting time is up. "Help me." Angelino begs.  "I believe you. We'll get to the bottom of this." Cristobal promises.   
    Buffalo, New York Gracy can see that Ray is still pretty down. He has talked to his friend Oleg over the phone and he won't meet him until two days later. But Oleg told Ray about the charges and the raid. Gracy thought Ray could use some distraction. So she brings Ray to her company's laboratory at Buffalo, New York.  Gracy works at a technology firm called Spheres Inc. It has achieved a great reputation for their innovation and new discoveries. As a result, they get lots of orders and funding from the military. Gracy wants to wow Ray out of being down, so she decides to show him something extraordinary. She brings Ray to the top security clearance laboratory where there is new technology that is in development and is classified.  It catches Ray's interest and his look of bewilderment over the day's event is turned into a look of amusement.  Ray is especially awed by the invisible sphere. It is made from nanomaterials that allows manipulation of materials at the atomic and molecular level, producing unique characteristics on a finished product. This material is designed to divert light off the object and what is inside it. Lights and objects surrounding the object are projected into the sphere making it merge with its surroundings. The object inside can then be shielded and cloaked. But it is far from perfect. And it works best with darker background. There are still lots of artifacts, reflection that give away presence of the object. But it is an interesting project nonetheless. Gracy then shows Ray other projects including various weaponry and gadgets. Another item that Gracy shows Ray is what looks like the ordinary tablets that are pretty much standard now. Desktop and laptops are pretty much obsolete. These tablets are several times more powerful than the most powerful desktop of the old days. The latest tablet are either cereal box cardboard thin, for those who want a sturdy screen, or a rectangular unit that is a foot long, two inches in height and an inch deep with two built-in projection. The height is higher than necessary to accommodate a bigger screen projector so that it can be displayed onto a whole wall if the unit is moved back far enough. It automatically adjusts to keep the display at a very high resolution. The other projection is onto a table with a layout of a customizable keyboard.  But those are the ordinary computers. What Gracy has that will be hitting the market soon is similar to those cereal box cardboard thin tablet but with a slightly bulkier 0.5 cm screen display. The whole screen is a solar panel made of nanomaterial that has been modified to absorb not only the light from solar and house lights but also any heat. It has conversion efficiency of more than 50% and significantly reduced the square area required by a solar panel. While you can hardly tell the screen is a solar cell, its internal parts are several layers of micro solar cells equivalent to having a house roof full of early 21st century solar cells. It also absorbs any heat generated by the unit or the surrounding area and convert that to electricity also. Other gadgets can be charged wirelessly by switching wireless power transmission ON and pointing the gadget at the unit's transmission dot.  One other item is a transparent tablet used by doctors for imaging patients or for precise surgery by directing microbullets to the organs or parts displayed in the transparent tablet.  All the nice gadgets offer a good distraction for awhile but soon Ray decides he wants to head back to New York in case there are any new developments.

Chapter 5 – Anonymous Voters

Spain

Cristobal has just finished packing for Italy to follow his friend Angelino. Angelino is due to be deported. It is also election day today in Spain. Cristobal wants to make sure he gets out to vote for Danilo Campo's party. He is leading the polls with 70% of the vote. But one of Spain's main news networks, Nueva Visión del Siglo, has released a number of revelations two nights before, showing a video of Danilo Campo having sex with an alleged prostitute. They followed it with another interview from a woman who claims she was paid by Danilo Campo for her service. Cristobal has always felt the sensationalist Nueva Visión channel is biased. They obviously timed the revelation to cause outrage but not enough time to verify the truth other than Danilo's denial. Cristobal is also not comfortable with the new voting machine or the introduction of mail-in ballots. But despite public opposition, the government of Diego Ortega was able to push these new voting regulations through the Congress that is dominated by his party. But if the polls hold, that would hopefully change. Cristobal grabbed his bag to head out to vote and then onto the airport.

After the polls close, Cristobal is already in Italy with things on his mind other than what he considers a sure win for Danilo Campo. The Spanish media are busy with pundits talking excitedly about their predictions. Exit polls are showing Danilo Campo leading, albeit with a drop to 60% from the pre-election and pre-scandal poll of 70%. Nueva Visión del Siglo breaks with the rest of the media in calling the exit poll too close to call. This causes some head scratching from the other media since the margin of error is much smaller than the difference. But Nueva Visión surely know something they do not. But once Junta Electoral (Electoral Commission) announces the ballot counting has started, it only takes 30 minutes for all results to be in. The announcement comes as a shock as Diego Ortega is announced the winner.

The pundits immediately go on a frenzy trying to offer possible explanations for the surprise turn of events. One network points out that exit poll is unreliable, citing a former U.S. presidential election that saw a candidate named Bush set to lose based on exit polls but ended up winning. Another pundit disagrees that exit poll are unreliable since few months after that, Ukraine had an election and exit polls showed who was going to win. When the results proved otherwise, it led to a revolution.

Nueva Visión del Siglo's resident pundit offers his own explanation, citing the 2 nights before election scandal as having an effect. "You know the 70% poll is already bloated. So it is actually lower. So after the scandal, his rating have dropped considerably leading to his defeat."

While this live show is broadcast to Spain nationally, a visitor is standing behind a one way mirror room with the network CEO. He is a tall, muscular guy with a large frame. His face has a permanent smirk on it. He congratulates the CEO. He bids farewell and leaves the building. The CEO's assistant, who has been holding back his questions, finally asks the CEO, "Who is that guy?"

"That guy is someone you want to be on your side. He might not be a well recognized public figure but his power extends globally. Let me just say, our success tonight is in large part due to his advice and help."

It is no secret for the staff here that they are rooting for Daniel Ortega. But if asked publicly, they would claim impartiality.

"What is his name?" asks the staff member.

"Not that you will remember or would have heard of him. But he is Morris Stark."

_  
Condominium_ _in_ _Spain_

Back in the penthouse of the more than half-billion dollar condo hotel owned by the conglomerate, Morris Stark is pretty proud of himself. He is sure the chief of the conglomerate will be as well. The chief has taught him well and rescued him from a pending jail term. Morris was turned into one of the most powerful men in the world.

The Conglomerate has grown in influence by starting with lobbying for corporations. Their effectiveness at getting things done and "taking care of business" has increased their support. It has since branched out into various satellite companies investing in media, financial and technology firms. The chief of the Conglomerate is only known to a few people. Morris Stark is the face more popularly known by their client. Morris Stark was in trouble with the law as a youth but the chief who was monitoring him was impressed with his talent at committing fraud, and cracking computers and internet securities, has come to the rescue. Together they have erased any trail of Morris Stark's link to his days as the black hat hacker Caliphate, considered the blackest of the black hats for not only his computer crime but willingness to commit physical crime.

One of the first things the chief taught him was about the Art of Effective Deception. Some of those skills he transferred to TV network like Nueva Visión del Siglo. He taught them to use the tone of a pundit's voice trying to sound outraged, maligning, and ridiculing of any critique. "Shame, bully and ridicule them into silence," the chief would say. It usually works very effectively, and viewers enamored by sensationalist and over the board shows of the network are soon swayed by their anchor's opinion. Soon the other networks follow them even to the point of not criticizing Daniel Ortega. Ortega's men are capable of creating so much fuss or ruckus making life difficult for any network who dare criticize them. Daniel Ortega thought it would make them think twice before criticizing him again in the future. Their influence on social media also helps shapes and change public opinion by unleashing lots of virtual persona bots pretending to be actual posters to sway public opinion and create a perception of popular opinion.

Among the many things taught to him about the art, the chief seems to be most proud of one thing - "The Big Lie." Coined by Hitler, it is a technique to fabricate truth in a big way that people are not able to comprehend that someone could tell such a big lie. Hitler believe people will more readily believe a big lie than a small lie. And if you repeat it often enough, it would become the truth in people's mind. The chief also said that people would also rather believe that such a big lie is possible than admit they have been had in a big way. Morris Stark has seen that theory works so many times that it has become part of the routine for their networks of media outlets across the world. Their media and their automated bots at social media work in concert to spread a message. Soon after, people in the street are talking about it as if it is the fact. The chief praised Hitler and Germany's philosopher as geniuses. "But I have the opportunity to do what they have failed to achieve. And without having to send a single army of my own," the chief once boasted.

But this election has required some extra work on Morris's part to help their chosen leader for Spain, Diego Ortega. The last public poll showed Danilo Campo at 70%. But their own secret poll actually showed him rising higher than that with momentum to carry him to the election. So the fabricated video and scandal have to be released to make the vote rigging more believable. Their Art of Deception referred to that as "The T minus zero smoke bomb." Otherwise, all their hard work to push through the voting machine and mail-in ballots would have gone to waste. If everything else fails, there is always the "diversion" technique. It could be as bad as the situation demand. Should there be a widespread protest that could topple their supported government, an external threat could be created, an actual attack carried out if needed. Anyone who persists in protesting, despite the country being under attack, could be arrested for enabling their enemy or being unpatriotic or traitors. Morris has personally looked after executions of "diversion" tricks at various South American countries recently. The fear of external attack has rallied people's support around their unelected leader, silencing the dissenters. "Fan the flame of nationalism," the chief had said. They almost had to use it in U.S. when the current president was having trouble in the middle of his term.

Morris helped Diego Ortega pushed through the voting machine despite widespread public outcry. Introducing mail-in ballots and marketing it as a means to encourage voters' participation. He helped designed the system to be counted in offices rather than under the eyes of party scrutineers during the election night. Lots of anonymous runners were also hired claiming to be from Junta Election helping seniors fill out and mail their ballots in. In the poor neighborhoods, they have runners paying voters if they can show them who they vote for and hand over their ballot for the runner to mail. All runners don't know who their employers actually are, just in case some government officials caught wind of it and start an investigation.

The voting machine is much easier to manipulate. They provided the software for all to see and scrutinize. So poll watchers can scrutinize all they want but the trick is in the hardware that is digitally locked. Access to processors is also physically locked with GPS to quickly recover any stolen machines. Thanks to the copyright, patent and anti-circumvention law that the conglomerate helped their client push through, all attempts at breaking and reverse engineering digital locks are now illegal subject to fine and imprisonment. The bills were called "Promoting Innovation Act." That trick is called "Call it what it is not" on the Art of Effective Deception, a derivative of the Big Lie. The chief used to explain that if you want to lower quota against logging in the forest, you call the bill "Future for the Forest Act." In another bill they helped a pharmaceutical company client by passing what was called the "Cheaper Drugs Act" that extends data exclusivity of drugs to 20 years on top of existing patents. This blocked the possibility of cheaper generic drugs being produced for longer periods of time. It won't lower the drug cost, in fact it will have an opposite effect, leading to a windfall for their client. But they can always claim it promotes innovation and jobs. More innovation and more drugs means cheaper drugs. "Spin it to the opposite and people could be confused into believing it is the intent," Morris was told.

Another technique is what the chief referred to as "Framing." If you can create doubt in people's mind about a person, pretty soon anything the person does, people would try to fit into that doubt. The chief relates the tale about a man accused of murder, and people started looking at everything he did to fit the profile he is accused of. He was carrying an axe and chopping wood and people would say, "Look at how he handles that axe, he does look like a murderer." Of course they later found the real murderer. The media can magnify this, the chief explains. "And we could use this to our advantage." "Fear mongering" can be use in tandem with "Framing," because fearful people are easy to manipulate and control. Social media is a good medium for that, using a fake persona bot to spread the message. Use in conjunction with "I am one of you," where the fake persona starts the post with 'I hate <insert subject of discussion> also, but....'. That would make the reader think you are not an apologist for the person they are criticizing then insert spin after the 'but.' Or other variety of mock dissent followed by defence of the current subject of criticism. Or "put your words in their mouth" like saying "I agree with you when you say this...." even if that's not what they are saying and twist the person's words or take their words out of context. This is also referred to as "Context is adjustable." It works nicely on political campaign ad, especially when used along with "framing." As the chief says, you have to "twist and exaggerate or overgeneralize and oversimplify."

One technique that has got a lot of politicians out of hot water is taking advantage of ambiguity, or as what Morris's boss taught him, "Ambiguity and mock innocence provide plausible deniability." The Italian PM used it to great effect while other political allies were able to award contracts using loopholes in the law and non-explicit prohibition. Then simply use that technique to slip through further scrutiny.

And for their critics, TV networks use the technique "the least common denominator." They pick a really lousy and poor speaker as their guest to represent the opposing side and apply the "shame and bully them to silence" tactic to discredit and ridicule them. The guest from the side they support then has free reign to say what they want.

Then there is also the "strike from the shadow," based on theory that people don't react to something until it has reached disastrous proportions. When faced with unpleasant truth, they yearn to be convinced it isn't so and would readily believe a pleasant lie. "So try to lay low and change the law under the radar," the chief explains. "For example, one person dying from contaminated water won't get much attention. A large number of people dying will get a reaction and action or law passed to prevent it from happening again, such as more water testing." The chief has also told Morris that "we have positive precedence when it comes to oil. Law passed following Exxon Valdez Oil Spill was watered down. But murmurs started again after the far wider and damaging BP oil spill. So we need a strong leader at the top able to ride out the storm of public criticism and offer cosmetic laws or watered down laws to appease the public. Or use the 'call it what it is not' to lead people to think a remedy has been effected. The general public is not going to read the law word for word. But the leaders should come up with a good spin to convince any rowdy congressman. When it comes to our competing technology like solar, we can use activists like Idia Alea to encourage laws that would make the new technology financially and bureaucratically unfeasible. But when it comes to protecting our investment we should use the 'Free Market' claim to prevent any regulation."

Morris Stark's thoughts are interrupted by a phone call. He removes the strip from his cellphone watch and mounts it on his ear. "Hello." Morris paused for a minute to listen to the person on the other line. "So he is back in Italy? Good!" Morris hangs up with a smile of satisfaction on his face. The day just keeps getting better, another fish under their net. Does this pesky hacker really think he can get away with compromising one of the conglomerate's supported leaders in Italy? He will be locked up forever in a place where murder in the hands of a hardened criminal is not that uncommon.
Chapter 6 – The Cure

_  
Queen's_ _University_

Jack Garrick is busy working in his laboratory at the Queen's University as usual. He was so concentrated on his work that he did not notice his friend sneaking up on him and watching behind his shoulder. Jack Garrick is 6 feet tall with a full white beard. His friend is a younger researcher from University of Alberta, Benjie Scott. At 40 years old, he has already accomplished a lot but nothing as groundbreaking as Jack Garrick's work. Although he is approaching middle age, his demeanour is still that of a early twenties youth. He loves playing pranks but usually tones it down a bit for Jack Garrick.

Benjie Scott gently blows wind on the back of Jack's neck, startling him. "God Benjie, are you trying to give me heart attack?"

"That's the idea, then I can steal your research and claim it as mine. Bwa ha ha ha," gesturing to touch Jack's screen. Which earns him a slap in the hand.

"Get your hands off my research." Jack scolds Benjie, giving him a stern look before breaking out in laughter. "So what brought you here?"

"I was just in Toronto for a conference. Just thought I would drop by."

"Thanks for the advance notice." Jack says sarcastically.

"You are welcome."

"What conference is this?"

"Nothing to do with cancer research unfortunately. Boring administrative stuff."

"Ah."

"So did Health Canada approve your application to start testing yet?"

"No, I am afraid it is getting tied up in bureaucracy."

"Here we are with the cure for cancer, and they are too busy with their bureaucracy?"

"Potential cure for cancer." Jack corrects Benjie.

"I have full confident in you Jack. I've looked at your data and it is pretty impressive. What is Health Canada thinking? We are not living in year 2000 where testing on animals was unreliable. Preliminary tests done were on stem cells. Those replicas of human cancer cells have so far shown very encouraging results. They are pretty conclusive as far as I am concerned. I am surprised you don't get more publicity on this."

"Less publicity is better. But I am sure our friend in the Big Pharma already know about it."

"I wonder how they would react, knowing you could put an end to their multi-billion dollar industry."

"Ecstatic?" Jack says, laughing.

"Well university researchers have better track record on finding cure than those billion-dollar industries who rely more on patents to rack up profit than putting more money into new research. My friend in government tells me that there is an influential lobbyist firm that people are referring to as the conglomerate. Apparently this conglomerate wants government to pass laws to force universities to commercialize our invention so that it can be patented and handed over to private companies. In the name of helping society benefit is what they said. I think that is just pure B.S."

"I am not giving anyone my invention so that they can gouge those who are sick."

"You have a wonderful mind Jack. Who would have thought of finding a cure by helping the organs affected by cancer regain the metabolism that's been lost. All this time, our medicine and drugs mostly focus on suppressing gene functions in our body and disabling biological bindings. Or use anti-metabolite drugs. Those usually lead to side effects. Sometimes it becomes toxic for other parts since the remnants tend to affect adjacent tissues or organs. Instead of inhibition, you focused on recovering the function of the affected cells. Not as easy as it sounds but you did it. You are going to be a rich man."

"Would you believe me if I say I don't care about the money."

"Oh come on. You have to at least earn something for all this hard work."

Jack looked up and removed his eyeglass. "I swore I would dedicate my life to researching for a cure after my mother died from cancer in the U.S. My father went broke from all her drugs and treatment costs. I promised myself I would find a cure and I will not patent it to make it affordable for everyone. When my father died, I thought my dream of going to university was gone, but thanks to Dr. Scott Godwin for letting me work under him. My success is largely because I was able to step on that giant's shoulders."

Benjie Scott is stunned. He was always impressed with Jack's intellect, but now he is awed at his selflessness. "This man is a saint," he thought to himself. "So just like Jonas Salk eh? Inventor of one of the types of the polio vaccine. What was it that he said when asked who owns the patent?"

Jack replies in a low voice, imitating Jonas Salk in his 1952 TV interview. "The people I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

_  
Algonquin_ _Park,_ _Canada_

Orad Labare is excited to be driving home to his foster parent's cottage home. It was a good year for Orad. He got a decent paying job in the city and was able to save more money for his post-secondary education. He left his foster parents two years ago after turning 18. He wanted to be able to look after himself. He told his foster parents that they had done more than enough already for him. While driving home, his mind wandered into the past recalling memories and stories about his mother.

Orad's father died when he was 2 years old. His mother raised him alone. She worked for a bank in Wall Street, New York. She struggled to make ends meet since she have become the lone breadwinner. Minimum wage had been frozen for years as government claimed businesses couldn't take an extra hit in times of economic difficulty or more people would lose their jobs. Orad's mother's salary was above minimum wage, but it had also been frozen for years and it was not enough to raise Orad. The economy recovered and minimum wage went up a little bit. The government instead concentrated on giving tax breaks to big companies defending the move as a job creation measure. The personal income tax exemption and margin, however, remained the same, while inflation shrunk the household income. To make matters worse for Orad's mother, the promised job creation did not happen. The company she was working for continued to re-organize and cut staff to increase profits and value for their stock market holders. Initially, Orad's mother job scope and load increased to a 2 person job. But that was not enough for the company who wanted to keep growing and to quickly increase their billion dollar profit further to attract more stock holders. Further downsizing causing Orad's mother to end up covering what used to be a three-person job. Customer service suffered but that was the least of the company's concern when they were practically a monopoly now with only three competing companies for the whole country. Pressures from their executives for even higher profits resulted in middle management pressuring the staff not to do overtime. Orad's mother was unable to finish her job in a day, and she ended up working faster, fearful she might lose her job. But one job was not enough to raise Orad. So she took another job at night usually already exhausted from the full day of fast paced work. But she did not have a choice. Fortunately, her sister was willing to look after Orad since she was working at home. Orad's mom was thankful since she would not have been able to afford daycare. But that did not last long as her sister had to move to other place for work when Orad was 7 years old.

Orad remembered his mom being very skinny and still going to work even when she is sick. He was scared when he learned his mom had cancer and the doctor only gave her 3 months to live. They said her cancer was already at the late stage, and they wondered how she was able to keep going without going to see a doctor. She replied that she couldn't afford time off or the cost of seeing a doctor. She had to bear it when she felt sick thinking it is just excessive tiredness.

Social services offered to help to find Orad a new home. Orad did not want to leave his mom, saying he wanted to always be with her. His mom cried and said she would always be with him even when he would not see her. Orad remember the social workers trying to hold on to him tightly as he fought them off, not wanting to leave. But he managed to escape their grip to hug his mother. The social workers then decided to just leave them alone. Orad's mother died that night and Orad could not be consoled.

Orad went through several foster parents with all five giving up from his stubbornness. His sixth foster parents brought him to their cottage at Algonquin, across the border to the north in Canada. But Orad wouldn't smile or acknowledge them. They let him be. One day, Orad decided to go for a swim. He suddenly got a muscle cramp on his leg and yelled for help. He thought he was going to die. He started sinking. He wondered whether it was that bad to die. Maybe he should just let go and he would be able to see his mom. Just as he was losing consciousness he felt like someone grabbed him. But everything had gone dark. He thought it was probably just a hallucination as everything went silent.

Orad was not sure how long he was out. But when he opened his eyes as he started to cough, and he could see his foster father frantically trying to resuscitate him. He suddenly saw his mother beside him crying. He groaned, "Mom?" His mom then hugged him and started touching his face. He could now see clearly that the woman was not her mom but his foster mother. So he started to cry. He missed his mom so much, but this was the first time he had cried since leaving the hospital after his mom died. But why was his foster mother crying? He was not her child. Why would she care? After that day, he grew closer to his foster parents. They treated him like he was their child and he treated them like they were his real parents.

Orad's mind came back to the present as he turns the corner to the road leading to his foster parent's cottage. He pulls onto their driveway, takes his bags, and heads to the door. His foster mother opens the door just as he is about to knock.

"Oh Orad, it's so nice to see you." She hugs him tightly.

"Orad!" his foster father exclaims. "You have grown. He looks at Orad from head to toe. Orad was always a tall kid in his class. His body is big but not obese. His body reminds his foster father of old paintings of hunters from Orad's Aboriginal roots. Orad's foster mother cooks up a feast for their dinner and there are lots of laughs to be had that night.

Orad finally retires to his room. Everything the way he left it. He takes out his rectangular ruler size computer unit and points it at the wall. Time to login to The Node. The Node has grown to be the prominent portal for the net. Whether it is to search for something or check on your friends. The Node has been marketed as a friendlier alternative to FriendsConnect. The Node CEO once proclaimed that they are the good guys, a swipe at FriendsConnect founder who is very much disliked for his proclamation that people don't need their privacy. 'A privacy-less society breeds honest people.' He had proclaimed, but his proclamation turned out to be hypocritical when he turned out to be very non-transparent on his business conduct and for covering up for corrupt politicians who monitor the activity of their critics. That revelation led to the fall in popularity of FriendsConnect. Now The Node is the IN thing with the cool factor. It now has a lot of die hard followers. Some have grown very fanatical, attacking anyone who posts any criticism against The Node. Orad can't help but be amused at people's tendency to be fanatical and to blindly defend their idol whether it is an artist or website like The Node.

Orad likes the interface of The Node. All his communication with friends and the storage of his files are all kept at his own private node now. He decided to check-in with his girlfriend, turning on the built-in video camera on his unit.

_  
Ottawa,_ _Canada_

Mary Hurt is not looking forward to talking to Morris tonight. Morris is an imposing figure not only physically but also through the way he talks and acts. Mary finds his presence alone to be very intimidating. But Mary has done a lot of favours for him. All little things that were harmless. Sure it might have cost someone more money but this is a give and take world. People like her who work hard to get to the top deserves a bit more payback. Helping Morris has made her rich. Mary does not think that's corruption. She is not taking any money in an envelope from him. Just investment advice from a friend who she has helped a lot.

But his latest request makes Mary uneasy. Morris wants Mary to deny Jack Garrick's application to start testing his drugs on actual humans. She does not want to be the person responsible for denying human race a potential cure for cancer.

As she heads to the conference room, she is startled to find her assistant Barb Stanton just leaving the room. "Oh hi. What are you doing here this late at night?" Mary asked.

"Oh I just have a video conference with our client this afternoon and thought I would just finish my work there since the room was not booked for the rest of the day. What are you still doing here?"

"I have a video conference with a prospective client from Asia."

"I see. Anyway, I am out of here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night." Mary sighs as Barb leave. She wants to use this video conference unit. It is the latest they got and have secure communication. Morris recommended it so that they can have encrypted chat. Barb usually sets up the unit for her but she is now familiar enough on how to use the encrypted chat. The tons of other features she can do without.

She connects to Morris's node. Morris promptly answers. "Good evening. You look stressed."

"I just have to rush here. I am fine." Mary replies.

"You probably already know why I called. So let's cut to the chase. Have you rejected Jack Garrick's application yet?"

"How can I deny the world a cure for the number one killer disease?"

"We are not getting rid of the cancer cure. We are just getting it out of the hands of an eccentric professor. The cure will be still be available. But it will be patented and marketed by our pharmaceutical company friend. We can easily obtain the ingredient that he uses. He will probably make that publicly available, so we need you to issue a warning that the drugs have not been shown to work nor tested to be safe. We can then use the same ingredients and add some non-therapeutic ingredient then claim it as our own invention and patent it. Since the patent law that we pushed through allows for some ambiguity, it would take him some work to figure out what we did."

"But how can you get it out of his hands? Wouldn't he sue you?"

"You don't have to worry about those details. There is nothing that we cannot do. "

"But how much would the pharmaceutical company charge?"

"You have nothing to worry about. As an honorary member, you will get all the drugs you want for free. So if you have friends or relative that needs it, just let us know. Imagine if we let Dr. Garrick go ahead with his plan. The billion dollar industry of cancer treatment will be gone, large numbers of people will lose their jobs. By keeping the cure in play within the market, the people get to keep their job and the world get its cure."

"Let me think this over for a day."

"For crying out loud Mary! I thought you would have done that already before you came here. Why don't we take a break while you think it over."

Mary nervously tries to think things over quickly and decides there was no need to be stubborn like Dr. Garrick. Morris has promised the cure will be available to the world. And that is all that really matters. So she quickly responds. "No need, I'll sent him the rejection tomorrow morning. I hope your side will take care of things and prevent him from embarrassing our agency."

"You take care of your side and we'll take care of ours. Thank you Mary. It's been a pleasure doing business with you as usual. Good night." And Morris hangs up abruptly.

Mary is starting to hate her job. She has enough money for retirement. She wishes she could just walk out now and let Morris find someone else to work for him. But she does not want to find out what Morris would do if she turns her back on him. She sits there staring at the screen contemplating options that she know is out of her reach.

_  
Barb_ _Stanton_ _'_ _s_ _residence_

Barb Stanton was all set to go to bed when she remembers the recorder on the video conference unit was not turned off. She thought about going back now but decides to wait until tomorrow. Maybe Mary will have already turned it off for her.

Mary goes to sleep and it feels like she just closed her eyes when the alarm goes off. "Argh," was all she could say when she saw it was already 6:00 AM. She grudgingly get up to take a shower and prepares for work.

_  
Morris_ _Stark_ _'_ _s_ _residence_

Morris is drinking his morning coffee when his phone rang. It is his assistant.

"Did you have a video conference with someone from Canada last night?" his assistant asks.

"Yes, why?"

"Well I was just about to do a video conference and saw the message that the conversation was recorded by your counterpart. I know you usually conduct your business off the record so just thought I should let you know."

Morris stands there staring at the wall for a moment and then replied, "Thanks for letting me know. Nothing to worry about." He hangs up and thinks to himself that Mary better have a good explanation for this. He immediately dials her number.

_  
Health_ _Canada_ _Office_

Barb arrives earlier than usual and decides to check the video conference to make sure everything's OK. She sees it is still ON and a message said "out of space." "Oh shoot!" She then tries to slide the recorded video to try to see that her recording is still there. She thinks of skipping quickly past Mary's part but freezes when she sees the guy on the other side is not Asian. She stops sliding and thinks maybe he works in Asia. As she is about to resume sliding backward to rewind further, she freezes again when she hears what is being said. "You will get all the drugs you want for free. So if you have friends or relatives that need it, just let us know." She frowns, wondering why someone would be offering the head of Health Canada all the drug she wants for free. She quickly look over her shoulder. She walks to the door and opens to peek. No one is here yet. She quickly rewinds to the start, when Mary had just sat down. Her eyes widen as the video of the conversation continues. She quickly presses some buttons on her cellphone watch to start transmitting the data. The video conference unit asks for a password which she readily supplies. The upload prompt starts and prompts come up asking if she wants to delete the blank part. She clicks "yes" and the upload is done in under a minute.

As she opens the door, she sees Mary walking into her office looking distressed. She quickly swerves to the side after realizing Mary did not see her. She hides in one of the cubicles.

Mary's footsteps gets closer. Barb can hear her walk into the video conference room. "OK, I am here." She is obviously on the phone with someone. "What button?" She punches in some buttons. "OK it is done." "What!" She yells so loudly that it echoes throughout the empty office. "Impossible! I just got here and I would not know how to upload."

Barb knows things are about to get ugly so she tries to sneak out through the other side of the cubicle. She has to get out of here quick. Maybe she'll call in sick.

Mary hears the door shut and goes to look but there is no one there. She panics. "I think someone was just here." Morris is livid and asks her to check their door entry log to see who was just there. Mary quickly goes to check and finds who it was. "Barb Stanton," she mumbles. That was all Morris needed to call his team into action.
Chapter 7 – Gatherings

_Residence_ _in_ _Grand_ _Stone_ _Ridge_

Ray and Gracy arrived at a mansion in Grand Stone Ridge, located on a hill with a breathtaking view of the city below. Ray's childhood friend is hosting a party and has invited them over. George Walter and Ray Carter grew up together. George was fortunate to get a job as an intern with an influential senator early in his career. He quickly learned the trade and has become a successful lobbyist after the senator retired. Ray speaks highly of George, and Gracy can tell they have a pretty close relationship.

Dressed in glaring violet, Ray thinks Gracy look enchanting tonight, more so than ever. Her eyes have a certain glow. Gracy feels wonderful. She has not felt this in love before. They walk up the stairs and then into the house. George Walter immediately sees them and swiftly walks toward them. "Ray, my good old buddy." They shake hands vigorously.

"I can see that business is still good." Ray compliments his friend.

"Can't complain," George replied. "Let me introduce you to some of my visitors." George walks over to one of the guys standing close by. "This is Yvain Symeon, one of France's new millionaires. Yvain, this is my childhood friend Ray Carter." Ray and Yvain shake hands.

A guy just walks in and everyone's heads turn. "Wow, the Secretary of Treasury is here. I invited him but did not expect him to actually show up. Excuse me for a moment." George then walks toward the highest ranking government official to ever grace this residence.

"Mr. Secretary, what a great honour to have you here," George greets the Secretary warmly.

"I know George is good at networking, but I did not know he had friends in high places," Ray says playfully to Gracy. Gracy smiled.

"I need a break and you give me a good excuse to come out tonight," Secretary Bernard Carlyle says.

Ray does not know anyone in the party except for George and the Secretary of the Treasury, who does not know him. So he introduces himself to other businessman and starts chatting. "Your friend George is a good man," one businessman offered.

"I know" Ray says smiling.

"Indeed, a hard working man," another guest interjects. "He does not have the ferocity or influence of Morris Stark but he gets things done. He would have made an excellent lawyer. You should see him at work. A very eloquent and wise man."

Several drinks and hors d'oeuvres later, Ray runs into one of George's three sons. John, the eldest is all grown up now. "So how are the three brothers doing?" Ray asks.

"We are all doing good. Thanks." John says.

"By the way, this is my girlfriend Gracy. This is John, George's eldest son." Gracy and John shake hands.

"Well the two brothers are doing good. Cole is still the black sheep of the family," a guy who looks like he came with John says.

"Cole the youngest?" Ray asks.

"Yeah, a troublemaker," John's guest replies.

"Nah, he is just hyper," John responds.

"And how is Martin?" Ray inquires.

"Travelling the world. He can't stay still in one place."

Just as John says that, his father comes out and invites everyone for dinner. As dish after dish is served, Gracy observes, "Your friend George surely does not hold back. What a luscious and sumptuous dinner."

Suddenly there is a noise outside. Sounds of a woman yelling can be heard inside. "What is going on?" Ray asks George.

"Just that crazy radical activist," George replies.

"Idia Alea?" Gracy asks.

"Yes," George replies.

"The activist who resorts to violence and twists the truth to suit her agenda," Gracy adds.

"She is a violent extremist so full of hate. But she earned a lot of money from people just as crazy as her. She issued a death threat against people who eat meat. Idia has one thing in common with those executives who defraud and mislead investors out of millions of dollars or those corrupt politicians. All of them just care about themselves and would try to get what they want at all cost." One guest says.

"I think she is an opportunist. She owns huge shares on windmills but has been campaigning against solar and other energy sources," Ray added.

A staff approaches George and tells him Idia has been arrested for trespassing.

The party continues. After socializing for half an hour, Ray and Gracy decide to head home. They bid farewell to George and his guests.

On the road

As Ray and Gracy's car drive them home, Ray is quiet, just looking out the window. After a while, Gracy interrupts Ray's thoughts to ask if he is okay. Ray nods but still looks worried. "Come on, you can tell me anything," Gracy promised.

"I think now is as good as any for me to tell you a bit about myself that you might not know."

This piques Gracy's interest, and she jokes, "Your deepest darkest secret?"

Ray nods with a serious face. And Gracy is worried although she cannot imagine anything bad coming out of Ray. She just does not sense that in him.

"George, Eldon and I all went to the same boarding school as kids. That's why we were close. But there is one other thing that has made us closer. We were all victims of child abuse in that boarding school."

Gracy is shocked and covers her mouth.

"I was too young to understand what is going on. But I know something is not right and I was afraid. It goes on for a while. We later learned that each of us were all victims. But at that time, I was very afraid and kept quiet. We've learned later that all of us were told that if we told anybody, we would be hunted down and our parts will be cutoff."

"Oh Ray, that's terrible." Gracy was shocked but lost for words.

"It got worse. The three of us were the quiet ones. Maybe that's why they picked us. So aside from being abused, we also constantly had to face bullying, sometimes physically. One of our greatest tormentor was Kayden. I think he had issues with his parents divorcing and he took it out on us. Then one day, George saw him with our abuser. He told me he saw them alone. Days later Kayden was found dead with his thing cut off. I blamed myself for the longest time. For not being brave enough to report on our abuser. All three of us took the witness stand during our abuser's trial and George was the main witness that put our abuser away for good. All three of us kept in touch after the incident and remain friends to this day."

Gracy just stares in disbelief.

"I became a broken man. Suffering from attention deficit disorder and at some point depression. I became irritated for the longest time. I never quite figured out what was wrong with me. It was like learning to live again. Until I went to see a psychologist then things started to unravel. With physical abuses, you can see the bruises and treat them. For emotional trauma, treating the invisible wound is trickier. I have felt like I don't belong to this world. I felt like I am damaged goods, dirty, hopeless. I felt so ashamed of myself. All this feelings threatened to destroy me. Sexual arousal became an experience full of guilt and conflicted feelings. I became short tempered."

Ray continues, still not looking at Gracy, "With the help of a psychologist, I was able to redirect my energy from anger to helping others. My experience has caused me to have very little patience for injustices. That's why I got involved in charitable organizations and other projects. Through my psychologist, I was able to identify that I have Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome or PTSD, which is also common among soldiers who have seen deaths in battlefield. Our brains and emotions are so fragile. If a devil wants to cause you to hate and compromise you for life, they just have to create condition that could cause you to suffer PTSD or emotional breakdown. And apparently the reason I feel like I am constantly trying to learn to live, with lingering feelings of being alienated and being an outcast, is that my growing years were so brutally altered. I was told it had affected my brain development. But I swear to always be kind, helpful and unselfish so that no matter what anger and frustration I feel, I will never fall down to the abyss of hate. Of course my experience has made me even more vulnerable to bullying. Since bullies sense fear and anxiety, I was also afraid that I could become like my abuser, which made me scared of being around children. I would later learn from my psychologist that false fear and guilt are quite a common occurrences among victims of abuse, I am not sure why I am telling you all this. But I felt we are getting serious and you deserve to know the real me."

Gracy then looks at Ray and gently holds his chin, turning it toward her. "If you are afraid that I am going to leave you or look at you any less because of this you are wrong." Ray looks at Gracy for the first time since he started relating his childhood story. "If anything, it has just increased my respect for you immensely. That having gone through all that abuse, you came out better than anyone I've ever met. Most people would have break and lost it already."

"Yeah, I guess everyone has their own breaking point. Love is the most potent antidote to hate. Even at moment that feels like my darkest hour, I held on to my beliefs and to the feeling of love and compassion. As corny as that may sound. "

"If I were you, I would have kicked the hell out of those bullies."

"Yeah, I could have done a better job of standing up to them, but violence would just lead to endless cycle of acrimony and elevated levels of hate. From observing all the bullies, I can say they are usually people who are victims of hate themselves. In mild cases, they are just insecure and guilt filled quickly getting angry. In one of the areas I did volunteer work in. People called it 'the ghetto area.' One insecure guy looking cautiously at another. Second insecure and guilt filled guy angrily reply 'What are you looking at!?' The first guy humbly says sorry. And each one of them part ways. Now these two guys grew up in crime infested areas and their fight or flight reflex are a bit screwed. If the first guy would have reacted angrily also, it might end up with two of them killing each other."

Gracy listens intently.

"This scene is figuratively repeated everywhere. Children of broken families, war veteran who are filled with guilt from the wide spread murders, child abuse or domestic violence victim, bullying victims, or being raised by a hateful bigoted parents are just some of the hate promoting acts and crimes. In mild cases, it can lead to tendency of being hateful, engaging in false gossip and falsely accusing someone to get back at the people they hate. At worst it will be an act of violence and death—either suicide, or murder and massacre. But working at the charities and helping people, I've learned no matter how bad a person seems, they can usually be rehabilitated and helped."

"Looks like George was able to weather the storm with no trace of behavioural problem also. What about Eldon?" Gracy observed.

"The three of us were lucky that we were all able to overcome our struggle. George handled it best. I admire his strength and how he was able to survive through this. Eldon had some behavioural problem at some point. He had abusive tendencies. He does not smile as if a smile would make him look weak. He was short tempered and easily irritated and blew people off for little things. But he came around and got a wake up call when his partner in the police, Devon, who was a bigoted Nazi sympathizer full of hate, went on to beat the shit out of a gay person that they had arrested. Eldon felt guilty later because he thinks he did not react right away to stop his partner. He fears that he might have secretly wanted the guy dead. But reviewing the video of the incident actually shows Eldon reacted immediately upon seeing what is going on no more than 3 seconds of pause after the initial shock. But still he blamed himself. He thought he is turning into Devon. Devon has a very macho, I guess you can say overly macho, demeanour. It later turned out that he is a pedophile. Eldon couldn't believe his misfortune to encounter two pedophiles in his life. It seems like a poetic justice for him to arrest Devon and I think that helps him a bit to settle what has been bugging him. We later recalled similarities between Devon and our abuser. Both have overly compensated masculinity and were hateful. They have suppressed feelings with total lost of empathy. Eldon changed from that day on and his violent outbursts have never reared their ugly head again."

"Interesting, never thought of macho type to be pedophiles." Gracy observed.

"Not all, but a lot of them are. But according to my psychologist, some are pretty normal and are even good charitable citizens of the community. While some victims of abuse becomes aggressive to hide their insecurity. I guess there is no one template that you can use to identify a pedophile."

"It is really unfathomable that someone could be so evil as to do this to innocent children."

"Yeah. It is a sad reality. Now you know my deepest darkest secret," Ray says.

"No, now I know you are a man of integrity able to stand any evilness thrown at you." Gracy concluded.

_  
Cedric's_ _Homecoming_

Cedric arrives back home in San Francisco. Ten of his friends come to see him, so they decide to go out and enjoy the night around the city. Cedric asks Bobby, "So how's Anna doing?" Bobby responds with shock on his face as he turned to look at Cedric. His mouth started twitching and eyes going left and right. Cedric is puzzled by his friend's contorted face and asks "What?" and realizes too late why. One of the lady friends, Christine, standing beside Bobby, puts her clenched fists to either side of her waist like a mother about to scold her child, and asks Bobby, "Who is Anna?"

"Oh, Anna is the cat I've asked him to look after," Cedric quickly replies.

"Yeah. She is doing fine," Bobby replies.

"You name your cat Anna? I never saw any cat in your place Bobby," Christine inquires.

"It's at my parents place now," Bobby replies, which seems to calm Christine down as she gets distracted by a display in a store window. Bobby then turns to Cedric giving him a scornful look. Cedric laughs silently, tightening his lips so as not to laugh out loud. Cedric quietly thinks to himself, "I guess Bobby and Anna are evidently no longer going out with each other."

The group of friends then heads to a club. The music is blaring with the latest electronic dance beat. One of his friends, Jake, starts dancing awkwardly with his head stretching progressively forward like a giraffe then retracting. This gets some laughs from the lady across him who then approached him.

Blake, a skinny guy with eyeglasses screams over the loud music raising his two palm to the side gesturing to Cedric in disbelief. "Unbelievable, he can dance and act geekiest and still get all the girls."

Cedric smiles at Blake and says "Why don't you try his move on that lady to your left?" Cedric had seen her looking at Blake earlier. "Approach her with Jake's move and you'll seal the deal."

Blake thinks there is nothing to lose and goes toward the lady doing Jake's head movement. He dances with his hands crossing each other to the side and his shoulders swinging up and down like a seesaw.

"Is that the latest dance move?" she asks, laughing shyly.

"You are talking to me and not running away. That's a good sign." Blake replies.

Cedric laughs and is glad to see Blake has connected with his admirer. He then leaves the two alone and goes to sit with Rose in a rounded couch in the corner. It is partially covered with glass panel, blocking some of the sound. They smile at each other. "So, what's new in Rose's world?" Cedric asks.

"Not much has changed. Glad to see you back here."

"Yeah, good to be back. So are you coming with us for our planned road trip to Vancouver, Canada?"

"Yeah. I would love to." Rose replied.

Seven of their friends soon join them with drinks for the group. One friend says, "Looks like Blake is doing a Jake tonight," which got them laughing. Soon Jake and Blake join them with their new lady friend.

Then Jake offers a toast. "Here's a toast to the return of Cedric, Arowin or whatever you are called these days."

"Cheers!" everyone responds with 13 glasses raised to toast and cheer for Cedric's return.

_  
Gathering_ _at_ _Chicago_

The outdoor stadium is packed as Reverend David Patrick delivers a sermon and heals the sick. People are in a trance. "Hallelujah!" Rev. Patrick repeats, followed by a chorus from the crowd as they respond. "Good night and contribute to our charitable funds as you head out so that we can help more of our brothers and sisters."

David is glad to be heading out. He hops into his luxurious bus with Oscar, his assistant, right beside him. Oscar has a towel dampened with alcohol ready for David. "I need to wash my hands off from all those filthy Christians hands," David would usually say after such an event. While people practically worship the reverend, Oscar knows all of this is just an act. The Reverend does not even believe in God. But it is a good business and good for gaining influence to advance their political cause.

The reverend has a visitor tonight, and it looks like they have business to discuss. Oscar offers them coffee and alcoholic beverages, then leaves, shutting the glass division behind him. It is one of those secret meetings where only the reverend and his guest are invited.

Julius is an elderly man with white eyebrows and gray hair; he is one of Morris's top confidantes. He is seated across David in the big comfortable couches inside the reverend's luxurious bus.

"The chief has seen the effectiveness of influencing people's opinion through religion. So he wants to ramp up our operation." Julius wastes no time in getting the meeting started.

"I hope this means increased compensation. It is hard work dealing with these filthy people you know." David says contemptibly.

"You'll get to keep most of it. Now, it is our task to design a religion that has more appeal worldwide. I have formulated some suggestions. We currently have an Asian branch based on Buddhism and Tai Chi. We also have invested a lot to have a clerical influence in the Middle East. Our plan is to create a worldwide religion. We can claim we are descendant of David, and therefore, rightful rulers of this world because we have someone who is a successor from the hereditary line of Jesus. Maybe we can get some monarch to play that role to make it more believable."

David laughs. "You think people will buy that?"

"With our media empire, we can spread news about discoveries of artifacts. You'll be surprised at what people will believe in. But let's set aside that suggestion for a while. We can create a religion that is not a religion."

David frowns. "Now you are confusing me."

"We can claim we are above religion. We can call it Aeon, the New Era Spiritual Union. We can use scripture from each religion to claim it means that to be saved, they would have to be baptized with fire through our prophet or you. We can point to Buddhist and Islamic scripture, as well as the Christian or Jewish bible. I am sure there are phrases there that we can use and twist the context to make it appear as such."

David is sceptical, but he remembers he felt the same way when they first introduced the concept of him being the reverend. Now look where he is now. People donating huge portions of their income for miracles that he performs. He started by using staged actors and later found he can actually make the sick feel like they have been cured, at least while they are on stage. David thinks to himself, "Human brains are an amazing thing when they are made to believe things." He realized he is working for an organization with worldwide reach that has the resources to do what they set out to do.

"With the success of our current club based on your original scheme, who am I to question your idea?"

"Good." Julius gets up to leave, then turns around and says. "Oh by the way, you have worked hard for us so I'll let you in on a big scheme that I heard about. Just don't tell anybody, not even your dogs and cats."

"Promise." David swears.

"You know Cardinal Kojo Thulani?"

"The black cardinal?"

"Yes. He is apparently being courted by Morris. An aide of Morris think he is being groomed as the next pope."

"That's crazy. How are they going to do that? Control the minds of the cardinals who vote for the pope?"

"No need for that. We just have to raise the cardinal profile in the world. Our media can help in presenting him in a positive light. As his popularity grows among the Catholics, it would be crazy for the cardinals not to vote for him. With the current pope sick and not expected to live long, our opportunity might be opening soon. The cardinals are human, and declining numbers of Catholics in the world means they would like someone popular to help attract new followers. And Cardinal Kojo Thulani's charisma would be a good fit for that."

"I would like to see them pull that off," David says, followed by a cynical laugh.
Chapter 8 – Money Talks

_  
Somewhere_ _in_ _Paraguay_

Morris Stark marches in through a huge marbled building and toward the main quarter of the building. Two huge bronze doors opened. Inside is a big hall with marble floors. At the end is a big marble desk. It feels like he is approaching a throne to meet a supreme ruler. And Morris is sure that the chief sitting at that marbled desk designed it in order to look like a throne suitable for the Supreme Ruler of the world. No one really knows the real identity of the chief except for Morris and few of the top aides. They don't even know whether the chief is a man or a woman. The chief is wearing a black robe with a hood that gives the bearer an air of superiority. It makes Morris feels like he is meeting a ruler from the ancient times. Behind the chief is a big banner with a crest whose design intrigued Morris.

Morris once asked the chief what the crest represented. It was explained to him what the animals are. The top of the crest shows a red dragon with tail like those of the popular depiction of the red devil. It was adopted from the British Red Dragon that the chief saw on some monarch's crest. The weird looking beast below it has the body of a leopard, feet of a bear, and a face with color of a leopard but shape like the head and mouth of a lion. This is taken from the Christian revelation, Morris was told. The feared beast with red dragon giving him the power, that's why the red dragon is shining light onto the leopard-bodied beast in the crest. Below the crest are the words Nova Roma (New Rome).

Morris is pretty sure the chief does not believe in God and is doing this more as a mockery against the Christians. The chief has talked about creating a New Roman empire, which will rid itself of the burden of morality. And where the Superhuman will rule the world with the population as its slave. The chief promised to conquer and get to far reaches of the world without sending a single of their own army. Not that they do not have an army. Their private armies are increasing here in this private secluded area with all sorts of modern weaponry and surveillance equipments. The chief has said that they will succeed where Hitler failed. They have established the base in this hideout, which they called Nueva Germania (New Germany), although it is not located in the district of Nueva Germania that the early German settlers' built and later abandoned. This facility is mostly underground and people who does not know about the place would think it is just a big empty dirt land.

The chief asks Morris to be seated so they can begin discussing their business.

"So any progress on getting Iceland on board with the MDI and Common Market Treaty?" The chief asked.

"Unfortunately we are having difficulty because there is widespread public opposition. They have switched to a more proportional and direct democratic system of government so their people can more easily block legislation even if we managed to get our man in their government."

"That is why I have asked you to push through the parliamentary system in the Philippines. It would be good insurance and easier to control in case those voters' education drive incites the people to be more involved."

"We are having success in that country. I've talked to the president of the Philippines. They are marketing it as a fight to correct endemic problem of corruption in that country. A change to a Parliamentary system will be better. There is increased support among their people. But there are also some people who are campaigning against it, saying it will reduce voters' voices. But the president is confident he can silence those voices."

"Good. What about our file on Bolivia? Their government is uncooperative, refusing to privatize their electric utilities."

"The government is fearful of a repeat of Cochabamba water privatization riot of 2000."

"Dammit, that's why we pay them the big bucks. For them to convince their people privatization of their utilities is good. Let them rack up their expenses and claim the solution to efficiency is privatization."

"Looks like their president cannot be relied upon anymore."

"Perhaps it is time to overthrow him."

"But they just have an election." Morris explains.

"I am not talking about elections. Forget their election. Do what has been done numerous times before. It is easy to manipulate the people to revolt, either by inflaming existing ethnic animosity or planting a scandal against their leader to rile people up. So if it suits us to play the democratic part we will; if not, we can influence their army to stage a coup. Their generals have enjoyed windfall from our investment advice maybe it is time they do their share.

"And if that fails?"

"We can create conditions that would let other countries' armies invade them for us. Perhaps an allegations of supporting drug trafficking in U.S. Or let them die in a plane crash like the Ecuadorian president who tried to interfere with oil business in his country."

"The former might be an option since he has stopped using air travel right now. Perhaps he is aware of what happened to Ecuadorian and Panamanian President before."

"Speaking of plane crashes, how's the Senator's flight?"

"He decided not to fly."

"I already have a backup plan. I have asked one of my assistant to data mine the Senator's internet surfing habits through The Node, and gather his preferences on women and everything. We have gathered the type of woman that he likes. So here it is." The chief push a memory chip to Morris. "He provided very specific details of his ideal woman. I want you to find that woman. The rest of the plan I'll leave it to you. Get this done quickly because the U.S. Senatorial campaign is underway and we want to eliminate candidates that could stand against our plans."

"Consider it done."

The chief decides to stand up and walk about, stepping down from the platform on where the marble table sits. "Maybe it is time to get our IMF chief to help us on opening some of the water utilities. Offer countries a loan if they open their utilities to privatization. The more loans we give to them, the more we can dictate their policies. We can also use some of our charities like the "Safe Water World (SWW) charity."

"Indeed."

"What about the professor in Queen's University?"

"The motion have been set to neutralize him."

"Good, we want control of that cure." The chief says.

"Our insider at the Securities Exchange Commission has informed us that one of the staff is looking at investigating one of our subsidiaries for insider trading. A lot of our recent investment advice to our supporters is from that subsidiary. But I am already taking care of that. The employee would likely be relocated or assigned huge volume of job to make sure he would have no time to poke his nose around other business."

"Good. And that actor who has been stirring up trouble against my investment firm, intoxicate him and get him arrested for a DUI. We'll see how his career will do after his mugshot is plastered all over the paper and TV."

"And the hacker from Italy has been arrested for murder," Morris reports to the chief with a devilish smile.

"Monitor his friends from Italy and Spain also. Search their files that are stored at The Node. Maybe they have music that we can charge them with. The music labels have been our allies in introducing warrantless surveillance and internet censorship even before we had to activate our MDI plan. In fact it was the Phonographic Industry Organization that proposed marginalizing the internet technology 'Usenet' and using child pornography as a tool to convince politicians to censor the internet. Like they have said, 'Child Pornography is great in getting politicians to start blocking sites.' Their help was certainly appreciated, but the Ordo Tribus XI attack allowed us to bypass the slow process of political maneuverings."

"Indeed, the industry was ahead of us in mandating ISP to act as a listening post, for surveillance of all user activities."

The chief sits back on his tall chair. It has a big back rest like a king's or emperor's throne. "Jon Manney, the agent for our client Hedingthon needs our help in convincing India not to back out of their arms deal."

"Perhaps it is time to remind them of the possible threat. Kill their ambassador in balls of fire and plant evidence or intelligence pointing it to Pakistan having a hand on that. We'll see if they will still hesitate to buy more arms after that."

"Sounds like a good plan," Morris says.

"What is the situation on trying to influence the Canadian election?"

"Our selected leader for the Liberal party is doing well. You were right when you foresaw the fall in popularity of the NDP government. We are also pouring our support behind our favoured guy in the Conservatives to win their leadership race in case the race goes the other way. If NDP fall, we will attempt to market one of our insiders as their replacement leader."

"What has the Liberal leader committed to so far?"

"To get rid of legalized drugs. Unfortunately, their legalized drug laws have successfully eradicated drug related gangs. As you know, their condition of legalization is that addicts have to go buy and use it at the specified drug sites. The sites were used to educate them also about their rehabilitation option. Our spin for the Liberal leader is this is not in line with the U.S. war against drugs and they are affecting the U.S. fight negatively."

"What did the Liberal leader say?"

"He is agreeable to that and seems happy to have our support. So we might be able to get back that revenue stream in Canada and reactivate our gang cells."

"Also ask him to get rid of their public broadcaster. They have been involved in investigative reporting that is too close for comfort for some of our conglomerate members."

"I'll think of ways to spin it. Maybe market it as a fairer competition for private broadcaster if they don't have to go against a subsidized institution. I'll use the Free Market ethos on that one. I can use the socialist or leftist label but that is not as effective as before. Our chosen leader also agreed to privatize their utilities and their publicly funded discoveries. Some of our corporate partners are looking forward to taking ownership of those technologies. And like you have said, we also want to take hold of any technology that could affect our investment in oil."

"And about their cyberdefense?" the chief inquires.

"We have convinced the Liberal leader to abolish their National defence cyberwar division and rely on the U.S. for that. So he'll make sure that is done once he wins."

"Good, that agency has been on the tail of our cyberwarfare division."

"Our cyberwarfare division has now successfully included the sleeper code on the latest updates of all our apps. Each app is of very high quality attracting a lot of downloads. They are registered under different names to make users think they are all from independent developers. With the push of a button we can push through our zero day virus. This is only necessary for tablets that are not manufactured by us. Our new tablet lines have those sleeper codes already embedded in the hardware. We just have to send the trigger code to activate them. By the time the virus software discovers it, it will be too late. We are also able to hijack apps on our competitor's market and replace them with an infected copy. Although it is harder to infiltrate apps that are open source since changes made to introduce malware can easily be detected. But we can do without infecting the open source apps."

"Put more pressure on the Colombian President. We want them to disband their small farmers' co-operative. Thanks to that bothersome ex-president Dean 'Good Riddance' Davis. He expanded our war on drugs in the U.S. I've originally designed that to weed out our competition. But that freaking Davis launched an all out war arresting most of our runners and syndicate's bosses, effectively shutting down our operation in the U.S. Then he was not content and went after our supplier in Colombia. Again the previous president's war to weed out our competitors there became Dean's crusade to rid Colombia of drug trade. He then offered small farmers alternative farming and gave them the idea to improve their sales through the co-operative 'Colombian Small Farmers Co-op.' Not only did he take away our revenue from our drug syndicate, he also created a serious contender against our World Food Inc. Now the farmers want to challenge the Colombian president decision to disband them by asking to let them vote? Bah! Ask the president to speed up abolition of that co-operative. Just pay some farmers to voice discontent and make claims of corruption at the board." the chief ranted.

"Yeah, I remember you mentioned surpassing the influence of a British merchant from the 18th century who have monopoly on opium trade being smuggled to China through their East Indian Company. Former president Dean Davis might have derailed that goal but things are picking up again. And if we can convince the next Canadian Prime Minister to make drugs there illegal again, we can revive our syndicate there also." Morris said.

"Very good." The chief gathers all the things from the desk.

"How's your investment doing?" Morris, sensing the meeting is coming to a close, asks.

"Excellent, I am expanding our oil investment for Stochmex. It will be a major source of funding for our covert war. It will play an even more vital role than the U.S. oil monopoly of World War II. The monopoly partnered with German's business, sharing the patent on oil and machinery including those from the U.S. auto industry. The U.S. oil monopoly also helped Germany stockpile oil before the start of the war. But this time we have our own company we can rely on. We have signed joint partnerships with Arif Group of Saudi, a major construction and oil exploration firm with ties to the royal family there. It has surpassed the Bin Laden Group, a holding firms with worldwide investment and projects. The Bin Laden Group dominated Saudi's construction industry and has strong ties with U.S. industry and holding firms. We have promised Arif a much bigger bounty if they join us and they seem happy to be our partners."

"Congratulations."

"Yes, just make sure that the new electric car is buried deep and shunned forever. We don't have control over the patent of their new battery. We only have control over the patent of existing batteries on the market. But our oil stocks are rising fast again after that accident. Our investment in oil depends on the demise of that car and its battery. Do everything to protect our multi-billion investment."

"Understood."

"Also, you might want to keep an eye on the new solar technology. It could affect our oil investment. But I have acquired the patent to the new portable nuclear technology. So we can control its distribution or non-distribution. Apparently it could reuse used nuclear fuel and have a cooling system that is inherently self-controlling. It is a technology adopted and improved from the passive cooling of old Canadian nuclear technology of early 2000."

"Glad to know we have already acquired control of that technology before the public get wind of it."

"Yes but there might be some loose ends that need to be tied up to make sure nobody has a copy of the design. By the way, we could probably use that activist Idia Alea's help. Since she has voiced opposition to the new solar technology for what she calls 'silicon and nanoparticles pollution' she could be our ally without her knowing it."

"I'll try to feed her some information and let her do the sabotaging." Morris grins.

"Very well then. Here is the dossier of all the people identified to be possible threats." The chief hands Morris a memory chip. Some are minor threats including those who have searched The Node using some flagged keywords like your name. Use the Motherland Defence Initiative to shadow them online or offline or to lock them up for good. Our network of state of the art Superjail across the country and around the world are almost complete. It could use some residents. Let the war against all those who would stand in our way begin."

"I am switching our surveillance and censorship into high gear. As the saying goes, 'He who controls the information controls the world.' and our infrastructures are ready for an all out information war."

Chapter 9 – Hackers and Crackers

_  
Beach_ _in_ _Barcelona_

The water is light blue and the sand is warm. Ray and Gracy are among the large numbers of people enjoying the Mediterranean coastline. Gracy grew up here so she knows her way around the city. Dressed in her two piece bikini, she lies down on the beach ready to relax and not worry about anything else. After being in the sun for half an hour, Ray and Gracy decide to go to one of the huts in Barceloneta. Sitting on one of the chairs is a young man barely 18 years old. He looks very familiar to Ray. The young man senses someone is looking at him and raises his head from his tablet. He sees Ray looking at him. They both nod. "Hi Cole," Ray greets the young man.

"Oh hi Ray. Didn't expect to meet you here."

Gracy gets two drinks and joins Ray.

"Gracy this is Cole, George's youngest son. Cole, this is Gracy, my girlfriend." Cole and Gracy shake hands.

"So what is this I heard about you being a black sheep?" Ray inquires, smiling.

"Oh just some disagreement. Just because I like to speak my mind does not make me a black sheep," Cole defends himself.

"You still like to hack into people's computers?" Ray asks.

"Again a misconception. I hack to find flaws, holes, spyware, malware and viruses. I am a hacker not a cracker."

"What is the difference?" Gracy wonders.

"Hackers find weaknesses in things so they can fix them or force the responsible organization to acknowledge their faults and fix them. They are also tinkerers of stuff in order to learn how it works and to innovate. Crackers, on the other hand, crack and break stuff. They have malicious intent and just want to break-in, steal or break people's stuff. Without hackers, there would be no one to point out the vulnerabilities. Then only the crackers can take advantage and steal your data and use your computers to commit crime. Most companies are forced to fix a problem only after a revelation from a hacker."

"Thanks for that insightful information Mr. Walter," Gracy says, smiling at Cole,

"You are welcome my lady." Cole smiles, almost blushing.

Ray and Gracy bid Cole goodbye and walk back to the beach to relax. Moments later Gracy decides to go to the washroom. Ray was content to just lay there with his drink on his hand.

Ray starts wondering what is taking Gracy so long when she shows up. They chat and lock lips before deciding to head out. They then take a leisurely walk to Colon, a 60 meter high monument with a Christopher Columbus Statue pointing to the sea. They then continue to walk toward Las Ramblas, the popular pedestrian street.

Two guys are walking frantically and almost bump into Gracy. "Excuse me," says one of the guys. Then Gracy recognizes the other guy and yells out his name as they walk past them. "Jacinto!"

Both guys stop and turn around. Gracy sees that Jacinto has grown. He is well built and tall, and looks more mature than the last time she saw him. But he still has a boyish demeanour but a determined look. His friend is a bit shorter than him and has curly black hair and his cheeks are a bit puffy, no doubt that has earned him a lot of cheek pulling from admiring adults when he was a baby. Jacinto's angry face smiles upon recognizing Gracy. He then approaches Gracy and they hug.

"Jacinto, this is my boyfriend Ray. Ray, Jacinto my nephew."

"Nice to meet you." Jacinto offers to shake Ray's hand. He then gestures toward his friend. "This is my friend Cristobal." Then gestures toward his aunt. "My Aunt Gracy." Gracy shakes Cristobal's hand.

"Looks like you guys were on a rush," Gracy asks.

There is a sense of hesitation with Cristobal elbowing Jacinto's waist lightly as if to stop him from saying something.

"Well it is a long story. Our friend is in trouble." Jacinto then looks at Cristobal as if to reassure him. "My aunt works for a technology firm that invents all sorts of cool stuff. Maybe she can help us."

"What kind of trouble is your friend in?" Gracy's eyebrows pull up toward her temple.

Jacinto hesitates again. "We don't want to waste any more of your time. You guys must be on vacation."

"We have nothing else to do and if I can help my nephew then that would be a bonus for us." She looks at Ray. Ray nods without hesitation with a relaxed look on his face.

"We are heading back to my place to try to piece some of the puzzles together," Jacinto says.

"Oh a puzzle, I love puzzles." Gracy says enthusiastically, brushing her palms together close to her lips, as if she is still talking to his nephew when she was babysitting and playing with him.

Jacinto smiles and says, "You want to join us?"

"Absolutely," Gracy replies and Ray nods.

_  
Jacinto's_ _Place_

Jacinto narrates the tale of Angelino's arrest at his place and the charges against him. Both friends swear to Angelino's innocence challenging Gracy's initial scepticism.

Cristobal then takes out a tablet. "Angelino said he told no one else except through instant messenger program that we created ourselves. It has a very high encryption. We were chatting while he was playing the game Izaron's Realm. The only communication going out of his computer that is not monitored is through the game. I remembered he said he had an altercation earlier in the night but no one was really hurt. He was tired and going to sleep. But whoever wants to frame him must have known what time he was out of contact with everyone so that there would be no alibi. And that night we played until 5 am. And the alleged murder happened conveniently at 6 am when Angelino was already in bed. I can see the prosecutor claiming he logged out of the game at 5 am, and he arrived at the victim's place and killed him. Which takes about 20 to 25 minutes by walking. The problem is Angelino did not really know where that guy lived. But it would be hard to prove that he did not know the victim's place in court."

Ray and Gracy think for awhile, and then Ray speaks up, "Fingerprints are considered very reliable evidence. From what you guys had told us they got at least 20 points match. That would be really hard to dispute unless you claim you were at the crime scene for other business. But this happened at the victim's residence with his own gun, and Angelino's fingerprints are on them. So pretty hard to disprove that."

"So you mentioned this might have to do with Angelino exposing the Italian Prime Minister's e-mail?" Gracy asks.

"Yes. Apparently the big news about a scandal from an e-mail that shows the Italian Prime Minister taking orders from someone to pass a bill. It has detailed instructions provided for expanding on the ID system and identifying the blacklist of government critics. That nearly got him kicked out. One vote saved him from the non-confidence motion. The whistleblower was never found, but Angelino thinks they knew all along that it was him. How? He does not know. Angelino knows his stuff and would have covered his tracks," Jacinto explains.

"I wonder if the hardware is also compromised. That is my next place to check, but it is harder to crack. Meanwhile, I managed to reverse engineer the games code, a time consuming process of pretty much breaking it down to as close as machine language of zero and one," Cristobal says.

"Tell them what you found," Jacinto says.

"The program is clever in that it encrypts the communication, so you can't simply sniff the traffic to see what is being transmitted. That is a good security feature to have. However, it also means that if it tries to transmit your private data, you won't be able to tell. At least not easily. What I did was see what the program does. I had to break the digital lock, breaking the Common Market Consortium's copyright and patent law. But screw that backward regressive law. It turns out the program does scan your system slowly so as not to increase the load too much and possibly alerting the user. It also slowly transmits that data that they have spied on and transmits it along with legitimate game data. Again, bit by bit, so as not to have a huge chunk of data going out alerting the user. It demands access to your computer to prevent cheating on the game. So it was able to log what we typed on our keyboard or to capture a shot of our screen. In short, the program has been cracked to monitor activity on Angelino's computer. And they have obviously monitored our chat." The room was quiet as Cristobal continues working on the computer.

"Since Angelino is pretty careful on securing his system, this tells me the cracker did not alter the game program but it came with the program like that. Whoever is behind framing Angelino has connections to the game manufacturer. I have also just confirmed that the same code was present in my version of the game. And I am pretty sure I'll find the same thing on millions of copies of the game out there. I'll probably just send out a notice to everyone online and they can verify it themselves if they break the digital lock," Cristobal concludes.

"Aren't you exempt from breaking the digital lock law if it is for security purposes?" Gracy asks.

"That is a misleading claim by the consortium. It is not what they say it does that you should believe in, but what is actually written in the law. The wording in the law gives them so much leeway and people have been prosecuted under copyright when the people's intent was clearly to make legal copies of their program," Jacinto says.

"With regards to that game with the malicious code in it, while that is quite a revelation, you still have the fingerprint problem," Ray observes.

Gracy continuously pinches her chin while thinking. "Yeah that would be really tough."

"Any chance someone might have sneaked in while Angelino is sleeping and let him hold the gun. Maybe they gave him a date rape drug or something," Jacinto wonders.

"Not possible. Angelino has a state of the art home security system. It would have alerted him. And he did not sleep that well that night. He remembers waking up several times, so sleeping pills and date rape drugs are out of the question. And he checked in the morning and the alarm did not go off that night," Cristobal says.

"Something's not quite right here. I can't quite put my finger on it, but we'll figure it out. The truth always comes out in the end," Gracy offers.

"Thanks Aunt Gracy. We appreciate you coming by," Jacinto says.

"Not a problem. We'll be in touch," Gracy promises.

_  
Barb_ _Stanton's_ _residence_

Barb Stanton has been hiding for days. She is not sure if she is growing paranoid or there really is someone following her no matter how she tries to lose them. She has turned off her cell/watchphone, thinking that it might give away her position. She has turned off the data connection on her tablet. She later throws away her phone after transferring the content to her unit. She decides to sneak back home. Her office thinks she is away sick. She just has to pack up her clothes quickly and run away from here.

The rectangular computer unit is resting on the table. From Barb's peripheral vision, she thinks the camera light blinked. But she checks and the unit is off. She laughs and thinks she is losing it.

_  
Somewhere_ _in_ _Paraguay_

Someone at the conglomerate's cyberwarfare division swears angrily as the light on the camera of the unit he is controlling remotely blinks. "Tell someone to check the code for these units, the light is not supposed to come on when the camera is off. How else are we going to secretly monitor our target," He commands the other staff in the centre.

Helmut Groos was a decorated general before retiring at age of 50. He now oversees the cyberwarfare division of the conglomerate. His clothes are ironed to perfection and his self made uniform looks like those worn by Nazi officers. To his right is Luitger Gerhold. A young disenchanted man that Helmut met in one of the secret Nazi meetings in Germany. His skill proves invaluable for the cyberwarfare division.

Their target has been elusive. She even threw out her phone. But she still has her unit with her. Helmut Gerhold can see that Barb Stanton is determined to run away with the data that Morris commanded should be retrieved or destroyed or both and that the target is dispensable.

Helmut Groos instructs his staff to hold off on any shadowing, confident they would not lose her.

_  
Algonquin_ _Park,_ _Canada_

Barb knows where to go from here. Her friends left her cottage key with her since she will be going away for a while. Barb decides to head to Algonquin. She rents a car and inputs her destination. She uses her friends' ID to pay. She will apologize to Juliet Ayers later. Barb is initially apprehensive and keeps switching to rear-view on her windshield to make sure nobody is following her. After half an hour she finally relaxes, convinced she has finally lost whoever was tailing her.

She arrives at the cottage and decides to sit back at the docks. Knowing that there is no internet connection in this cottage and that her wireless is off, she turns on her unit, projecting it to a piece of white cardboard she put down on the table. She starts copying the file to another memory pendant typing away at the table.

Barb then decides to look for an internet connection to e-mail all her friends. She hears a canoe approaching. She quickly hides her unit away. She then sees a young adult who looks familiar.

"Hi." the person waves to her.

"Hi." Barb waves back smiling.

"Gorgeous day," he says with a broad smile on his face.

"Yes. Very refreshing," Barb says, trying to remember who he is.

"I am Orad. I live two cottages down that way," Orad says, pointing to where he came from.

"Oh yes, I guess you were here for Juliet Ayers's party. That's why your face looks so familiar. I am Barb"

"Yeah, that was a long time ago." Orad paddles to move closer to Barb's dock.

"Come up here for a second," Barb says.

Orad lands the canoe on the dock and ties it to the dock.

"You brought your unit along into your canoe?" Barb wonders, looking at the unit Orad has in his hand.

"Yeah it has pretty good picture quality. I was taking a pictures of some loons."

"Aren't they gorgeous? I love when they make that call."

"Yeah," Orad says with a smile on his face.

"Can I ask you a question about computers?" Barb asks.

"Sure."

"Just theoretically, if someone wants to follow you, can they use the cellphone to do that even when it is off ?"

"Well it depends. If your phone is compromised, they can easily do that even when it is off. I've read that they were able to do that since early 2000. Back then if the phone felt warm and was running low on battery even when it had been turned off, then chances were it had spyware in it that would transmit the camera and even your voice to the person who installed the malware. But our cellphones nowadays do not get overly warm and they autocharge with solar and wireless power charging, so it is hard to tell. But if you don't mind me tinkering with your phone, I can probably check and see."

"No, I don't have my cellphone with me, but I was just wondering. But if I have it with me all the time then there is no way someone can put something in it without me knowing."

"If you did not change the default then yeah you should get a warning if someone tries to install something wirelessly. Unless the person you bought it from already installed it."

"Well that can't be since it was still factory sealed when I got it. I think it is just coincidence. Sorry to bug you with my paranoia."

"No problem. If you have any computer problem just let me know," Orad offers.

"Ok, thanks," Barb replies.

"I better get going. Nice meeting you. If you need anything, just let me know. I am kind of bored by myself there. My parents left for the city and won't be back for a few days."

"Oh one more thing, where can you get an internet connection here?"

"You can go to the restaurant a few minutes away from here. Just turn right to main road and on the first main intersection turn left and then you should see it."

"Okay thanks."

"Have a good day," Orad says as he launches his canoe away from the dock.

"You too." Barb waves goodbye.

_  
Restaurant_ _at_ _Algonquin_

Barb sits down and orders foods. She chooses a corner seat so that no one can see the display on her fibreglass screen that is resting on the table. She quickly e-mails to her 8 friends and signs into Usenet. Usenet has been around since the early days of the internet. It was used by researchers to post messages and later post files and documents to share. Most of its functions are now available through the web discussion forum and files on the server. But it still has its advantages. Instead of worrying about hosting files on your server, you can just post it to a newsgroup and it will automatically propagate to all the Usenet servers across the world. A cracker who wants to stop people from accessing your files will have a hard time, unless they shutdown the whole internet. Whereas a file hosted on your server can easily be compromised by a cracker or a denial of service attack that prevents others from accessing your site.

Barb is aware of these features. Barb decides Usenet is the best way to post this leak. Even torrents would need several people actively hosting, keeping their computer ON. There is no such requirement with Usenet.

Barb has been here for 15 minutes. She logged onto the internet 10 minutes ago. She then encodes her document using the program her friend gave her. The files are automatically split into smaller chunks to make uploading and downloading easier. She initiates uploading of the files to the newsgroup called alt.binaries.whistleblower-leaks. After uploading just 5 chunks of the file, the connection suddenly stops. Barb is puzzled, so she disconnects from the network and tries to reconnect but there is no signal. She then hears another guy asking the waiter if their internet is down.

It is another 20 minutes until Barb finishes her dinner. The internet is still not working. She decides to just head back to the cottage and try again tomorrow. As she hops into her car, another car pulls up and arrives at the restaurant. Barb looks at the car and thinks "What a nice car." She has always wanted to have one of those. She then directs her car to drive back to the cottage. The sun has already set and it is starting to get dark.

_  
Juliet_ _Ayer's_ _Cottage,_ _Algonquin_ _Park_

Barb feels sweaty and decides to jump into the shower. She feels so relaxed, and she can't believe that just a few hours ago she was scared to death. She regrets not coming here more often when Juliet had invited her. She remembers going to one of the interior lakes and just canoeing in clear water where you can see the rocks underneath, and even in the deep areas everything is just so clear and transparent. Barb decides she has been in the shower long enough, and it is time to get out and dry off. While drying herself off, she looks out the huge glass window. A few moments ago she could still see the lake but it has gotten dark so quickly. She gets dressed and is about to turn the lights on when she suddenly sees some movement outside. Like several shadows running for cover. She quickly grabs her unit and backpack and rushes to the panic room, which her friend showed to her while giving her a tour of the cottage. As she is about to close the door, she hears things crashing through glasses and sees smoke coming in. She thinks it must have been a smoke bomb. She quickly closes the secret door to the panic room.

Barb is shaking all over. What has she gotten herself into? She tries to calm herself by breathing in and out. She remembers the tour her friends gave her. This panic room has another secret block that leads to a tunnel that you can crawl through. It then leads to the boat house. But how does she know there is no one there? She then crawls through the tunnel and upon reaching an opening, she points her car's remote and punches in the command to direct the car to drive to last destination. As Barb peeks out, she sees a car parked beside hers that looks like the one that arrived at the restaurant as she was leaving. She hears the car start, and the sounds of tires on gravel confirm that a car has just driven away. She then hears lots of footsteps and yelling. There are sounds of car being started, then speeding off. She knows she only has a few minutes to sneak out of here before they realize there is no one in that car.

She slowly peeks to make sure no one is in the boathouse. She jumps into a canoe and quietly paddles away. Her heart is pounding so hard she almost thinks someone can hear it on such a quiet night. She remembers Orad told her he lives two cottages down. She is glad to pass the first cottage. But does not want to paddle too hard and give away her position in case anyone was left behind at Juliet's cottage.

She finally reaches Orad's dock, at least she hopes it is the right one. She slowly runs toward the house in a crouched position. Someone blocks her way, and she almost screams, but he hold her hand to her lips.

"Shhh. Barb is that you?" he whispers.

"Yeah. Orad?"

"Yeah. I was trying to peek to see what the commotion is all about," Orad continues to whisper.

"I found something about my boss. I think she has connections to some gang because they are after me and have guns and weapons. I feel like my life is on the line. I barely got away by running into the panic room hidden by my friend's bookshelf. I need to escape from here."

"Ok, there is a car in our garage, but they will probably catch you if you go out this way. I have an idea. I'll paddle with you to the other side of the lake. One of my friend's parents' cottage is there. I have the key to their cottage and they always keep a car in their garage even when they are not here."

"Ok. Let's go."

Both paddle quietly in the night. Orad knows the lake even with his eyes closed. And that is almost literally what they have to do tonight since there is no moon, and any light would give their position away.

They arrive at Orad friend's place. He opens the garage and closes it again before turning the light on.

"You can let the car autodrive but it will automatically turn the lights on since it is dark. Let me disable the light controller," Orad says and opens the hood and quickly finds the controller. "Looks like he has done this before," Barb thinks to herself. Orad opens the controller and moves some switches.

"Look, just turn this three switches up if you want to enable auto lights on again later. I would suggest that you let the car auto drive so that it will not hit anything or go off a cliff. Then turn on the light manually only if absolutely necessary." Orad then opens the door for Barb.

"Thank you very much. I hope we'll meet again, then I can properly thank you," Barb says.

"Just go now before they start setting up a checkpoint." Orad closes the car's door, then turns off the garage light as he opens the garage door. Barb already has the windshield and window set to tinted to prevent any lights from escaping. The car then drives away.

Barb is still fearful but breathes a little sigh of relief. Orad was brilliant in suggesting they leave from the other side of the lake. They took a different path. She plans to head further north then head as far west as she can go.

Meanwhile, Barb's eight friends all receive the e-mails in their inbox, and all of the messages suffer the same fate except for one. All messages to 5 users of The Node have quietly been deleted as if they never existed. The 3 other friends who used their university e-mail have their inbox cracked by Luitger Gerhold. But one of them is a professor who has already read the e-mail. A cleanup crew is quickly dispatched and all communication disrupted, making the professor's attempts to call out impossible. The next day, there is a news report in the university's local news of a professor who died from overdose in his laboratory.
Chapter 10 – The Rebels

_Tent_ _City,_ _Seattle_ _Washington_

Things are just getting back to normal after a riot broke out few weeks ago. It was much worse than the scuffle that broke out during the protest against the dismissal of the Pegasus Electric Corp fraud inquiry few years ago. This recent riot has become so widespread that the police are given arms, and the police chief has broadcast warnings to shoot to kill if rioters don't disperse. The riot goes on and the chief of police issues the shoot orders. Several blocks are burned and the police chief is sacked. Following the riot, tent city dwellers are blamed for the incident and a crackdown follows with various tent cities being closed.

Drake Rain is a bitter man. He is a veteran of the Iraq war. He joined the army at a very young age in order to survive. His parents could no longer afford to feed him three meals. He came back from Iraq in a worse mental state. He gets angry easily and has a very serious temper problem. He ended up moving out and has struggled to keep a job. Drake eventually ends up moving from one tent city to the next. After the riot, his tent city got shut down and he has moved here in what has become a very crowded area. A lot of heated discussions can be heard at night. Drake decides to join one.

"Are you guys going to just sit around here complaining or are you going to do something about it," Drake asks.

"What else can we do? Those rioters fuck it up for us," one young guy answers Drake.

"Open up your eyes. It is not the rioters that are fucking it up for us. It is the rich people like the executives of Pegasus Electric Corporation and the Secretary of Treasury which happen to be living in one of the luxurious gated community close to here. So are you going to just sit here and complain or do something about it?"

"What are you babbling about? What can we do?" another elderly gentleman asked. Astor Isaiah has seen a lot at his age and he can tell Drake is up to no good.

"Rise up, make those people know they cannot hide away in their gated community."

"Damn straight!" says one young man.

"How are we going to do that? Scare them with our placards?" asks another.

"No, tear down their castles and fortresses," Drake says with hate in his eyes.

"With what?" another curious bystander joins in.

"If we can get our hands on those guns that the police used for the riot, we can overpower their security easily."

"Good luck," says another onlooker.

"I can easily get them. Question is how many of you would join me?" Drake asks.

"Are you out of your mind? Are you guys tired of living?" Astor stands up. "Everybody go back to your tent and don't listen to this madman."

Drake stares at Astor like he wants to tear him up.

"What tent? This place is so crowded I can't even put down my tent."

"Yeah! They won't let us have a proper sleep so why should we let them!"

A chorus of "yeahs" can be heard.

Astor is troubled to see Drake's incitement is working.

More young men stand forward. "You lead," says one.

"Stop!" Astor yells. "Think carefully of the consequences of what you are planning to do."

"I've been thinking my whole life old man. Get out of the way or else...."

"Or else what?" Astor stands his ground.

"Do we want to do this or not?"

"Yes!" comes the chorus from the growing crowd.

"Tie this old man up. We don't want him reporting to the police," Drake commands and several people come forward to grab Astor.

"Just go to sleep and we'll untie you tomorrow morning," one of the people sounds remorseful and apologetic but goes on to tie Astor up anyway.

"You! Stay with the old man and make sure he does not do anything funny," Drake points to the apologetic man.

"Let's spread out and meet at the precinct." Drake then gives them directions. "Wait for my command once we get there."

The crowd spreads out and heads to the precinct that Drake claims is where the guns are stored.

_  
Police_ _Precinct_ _in_ _Seattle,_ _Washington_

Drake walks straight into the police precinct as if it is his home. "Is Seth Nevil here?"

"One second." The cop at reception says and goes to the office to call Seth. Seth went to Iraq with Drake, and since Drake met him, he knew Seth was rotten to the core. He randomly killed civilians. Drake knew but did not say anything. Eventually Drake started to imitate Seth's ferocity. Drake convinced himself men like Seth are the ones who will survive. Drake decided to set aside any emotions and guilt from that day on. Seth came back from the war soon after Drake. Seth got involved with gangs. Drake knows it and is surprised that the police force still does not know to this day. Seth was quite pissed when he learned several of his gang mates were killed in the riot.

Seth comes out and is surprised to see Drake. He acts nervously then turns to the cop at the reception. "I am just going to head out for a minute," Seth says.

Upon reaching outside, he turns to Drake and says, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"The thing we've talked about. We want to do it tonight."

"So soon?"

"Is there a problem?"

"No, actually there are only a couple of cops with me tonight so it would be perfect. But you have to make sure you burn this place down and leave no evidence."

"Deal."

"Go to the back door."

Seth opened the back door. "Where's the two other cops?" Drake whispers.

"In the jail area." Seth says, pointing to the direction.

He hands Drake a handgun with a silencer. "It does not look like police issue." Drake observes.

They go in and both police stand up. "It's just me with another boarder for the night." Seth says, holding Drake's hands behind him like he is handcuffed. But it is not handcuffs that Drake has behind him. It is a gun with a silencer. One cop turns to open one of the prison doors when Seth points the gun at the police sitting at the desk firing one shot into the head and as the police in the jail door turns around, Drake lands another shot in his head. They ask prisoners to see who wants to join them. They then open the door of those who raised their hands. Seth then goes up to the reception and shoots the other police officer. Soon Seth opens the storage where the guns are stored and Drake signals for the rest, who have been sitting casually outside, to come in and get their guns.

They burn down the police station and hijack a public transit bus, breaking the cameras. Drake then drives the bus to the gated community.

_  
Tent_ _City,_ _Seattle_ _Washington_

Astor has talked non-stop, trying to convince the man to let him go. The man threatened to put a cloth in his mouth but did not. "Think about what is going to happen to your parents and siblings if the police took revenge on us and close this tent city down. Let go of your hatred. It will only destroy you, like it did Drake."

"Drake is fighting for a just cause," the man said proudly.

"You don't fight evil with evil or you just end up like your enemy," Astor says, in a pleading manner. "I assure you from my experience in life that things will get better. It might not seem so right now, but it will. Good always triumphs against evil. Kindness always wins against injustice. Believe me when I say that what Drake is doing will just prolong and worsen our suffering and get innocent civilians killed."

That seems to have touched the man as he quickly unties Astor. Both of them run to the nearest payphone, but neither of them has any change. They then continue to run to the nearest convenience store. They start yelling, which scares the store clerk, who takes out a gun and pointes it at them. Astor realizes how hasty they have been, raises his hand and tries to calm him down.

"No, we are not here to rob you. We need the phone for an emergency. Please," Astor says as he tries to control his breathing. The store clerk looks him in the eye and slowly lowers the gun. He then moves the small phone unit closer to Astor.

"Thank you." Astor starts dialling 911, hoping it is not too late.

_  
Gated_ _Community_ _in_ _Seattle,_ _Washington_

The bus parks right in front of the gate as Drake comes down. The security man in attention puts his hand on the gun's holster. But he does not know that Seth has sneaked in from the other side of the bus and fired a shot right to his head. Drake then approaches the guard, takes his key and opens the door.

He went back to the bus and yells, "Tonight we plunder the treasures that have been stolen from us!" He then drives the bus inside looking for the Secretary of Treasury's home address that Seth got from his contact. It does not take long for him to find it. He stops, and people from the bus immediately pour out like beasts that have not been fed for years. They spread out and charged to various houses with guns in their hands. The secretary hears some noise and decides to check it out. His security is right on their feet already. Then Drake and others start firing at the door, breaking the frame to pieces. Amidst the gun fire, the attacker does not hear the sirens going all around the city trying to reach the gated community. Helicopters also approaches but turn away after some of the attackers start firing into the sky.

One of the secretary's security guards quickly grabs him, knots a blanket, and throws it out the window. He goes down to make sure nobody is in the backyard and quickly ushers the secretary down. The quiet night has suddenly been punctuated with the voice of women screaming and children crying. The security guard quickly grabs the secretary and throws him over the fence. One of the attackers suddenly appears in the backyard and the security guard quickly fires at the assailant, killing him. Drake is so overcome with rage he goes charging into the house and is immediately shot in the head by one of the secretary's security. The secretary decides to jump into the man-made lake and start swimming to get as far from here as possible. But gun fire seems to come from everywhere as the attackers use it to force open the door and intimidate their occupants. Those with guns are able to fight back. They have either killed the looters or were killed. The secretary wonders if this is what it sounds like in a battlefield.

Seth saw Drake go down and start running toward the house. The security sees him coming and fires several shots but misses. Seth then crouches down, leaning as much on the wall as he could. He then hears slow footsteps and that's all he needs, as he quickly turns, staying as low to the ground as he can and fires a few shots at the direction of where the footsteps came from. He lands several shots but also gets hit in the chest. The security guard in the backyard, who is now crouched in the kitchen, takes the opportunity to move and sees Seth on the floor. He quickly fires several shots at Seth's back killing him.

Words starts spreading among attackers that Seth and Drake are dead, and the police are coming. Everyone starts running in all directions to get out of the subdivision with as much of their loot as they can carry. Some are arrested, some are killed in gunfight with the police, and some make it back to the tent city.

_  
Tent_ _City,_ _Seattle_ _Washington_

Astor convinces all returning attackers to hand over their guns. He would keep them and lead the negotiation with police. They oblige. Upon the arrival of police, Astor identifies himself as the person who called for help. He hands over all the guns that he recovered. In the succeeding days, police arrest the attackers one by one, based on intelligence gathered by their agents in the tent city.

_  
Saudi_ _Arabia_

On the other side of the world, another group of rebels has assembled. They are determined to march peacefully to protest against corruption and atrocities. They have talked about the bravery of the Egyptians who have withstood violence and sniper fire to overthrow their dictator.

The internet has been shut down, so Jabaar, who has joined his friends in the rally, is not able to upload any pictures or video to the internet. So he just brings his computer unit and starts filming. He is puzzled as to why the Middle East Voice Network is not broadcasting their protest. The network has been promoted as the new voice for the Middle East and has offered modern programming, attracting lots of viewers, especially the youth. But Jabaar is puzzled as to why the network news is not even mentioning the protest. The government has also been cracking down on internet usage censoring the content. Saudi is one of the first to quickly sign the Motherland Defence Initiative, claiming they already practice all of those laws. Saudi has also required citizens to get a license to blog. Jabaar did not see any problem with that until he started blogging about things critical of their monarch and government. His license to blog was taken away.

But there are ways around being banned from blogging. He just gives the message to his friend to post until they themselves get banned also or use anonymous IP addresses and encrypted traffic. It has made posting protest videos and pictures on the internet difficult. Difficult but not impossible. Even more difficult now that the government has shut down the internet due to the growing protest. One of Jabaar's friends, Gamali, is heading to the United Arab Emirates. He asked him to smuggle the memory chip across the border and post it to the internet that way. Jabaar asked Gamali to post it on the crowd-sourced net. Maybe they will broadcast it on their satellites.

_  
Conglomerate's_ _Headquarters_ _in_ _Paraguay_

"The protest is growing in Saudi," Helmut Groos tells the chief.

"But we have shut down the internet and our subsidiary, the Middle East Voice Network, will not be reporting anything about this," Helmut Groos explains.

"Spare no resources. Do everything even if we have to turn that country upside down. We cannot lose our investment there," the chief orders.

The chief and Helmut are joined by an extra guest today. Steve M. O'Reilly, the head of U.S.-Canada media division of the conglomerate.

"I fear if the same thing happened in the U.S. that we might not be able to get away with not reporting it, especially if the number of protesters grow," Steve says.

"Why not? Just report on something else. Label them unpatriotic, un-American or traitors. Maybe there is a plane crash or some other disaster. There will always be something more pressing you can report on. If not we can create one for you," the chief says and starts laughing. Helmut joins in and starts laughing also. Steve laughs nervously, knowing that they won't hesitate to create one if the need arises.

"Our subsidiary, a gaming company, has been compromised," Helmut says bleakly.

"How so?" Steve asks.

"Some hackers have posted internet details of our backdoor codes on the hackers forum," Helmut explains.

"We need the media help for this one, you and your subsidiaries from around the world," the chief tells Steve.

"Your wish is my command," Steve says.

_  
Newscast_ _around_ _the_ _world_

Immediately after Steve M O'Reilly leaves the meeting at Paraguay, he dispatches instructions to broadcast news. Almost instantaneously, the news has been repeated across the world on all media outlets of the conglomerate. Even media not owned by the conglomerate quickly pick up on that and start repeating what was reported.

One newscaster reads the prepared news: "The manufacturer of the game Izaron's Realm has declared that hackers have broken the digital lock on the game to install a malware. Users are asked to update it with the patch immediately, which will prevent their system from being compromised by these malicious codes. The company said they intend to track down the uploader of this code who broke the digital lock and will prosecute them to the maximum penalty allowed under the copyright and patent law." The news anchor then goes off the script and says, "and that's a whole lot of fines and jail sentence." The new anchor closes with a shake of her head and raised eyebrow along with a twist in her lips that portray an adult showing disapproval to a naughty child.

Immediately after the broadcast millions of people start updating the patch, erasing evidence that there ever was a backdoor code in the original game. The program at the company's download site has also been updated, removing any trace of the malicious code.

Several raids are made across the world at addressees of the people who commented and posted about finding the flaw. The ISP readily provides the address as requested and all data that they have of on the user, which is substantial since the data retention law came into effect. The ISP of the forum agrees to take down the offending post just an hour after it was posted.

Helmut Groos breathes a sigh of relief that only few people knew about it, and they have all been arrested except for the original poster. He is glad that this was posted late in the night.

Chicago

Meanwhile in Chicago, veteran news magazine reporter Anthony Kemp just finished interviewing Oleg Oborski. Anthony is intent on revealing the inconsistency and the media's rush to judgement about the electric car accident. At 60 years old, Anthony still has strong followers and an integrity that is fully intact. He despises what the media has become. A spin machine for politicians. Anthony is the only U.S. media personnel that is still daring to do investigative journalism. Aside from working on the Oleg's electric car story, he was hot on the tail of the Pegasus Electric Corp fraud. It was his investigation that lead to the revelation.

Anthony looks at his watch. He has an appointment with Brett Jules, a long time source and government insider. Brett is bringing a document that would implicate the Secretary of Treasurer. Anthony drives to their usual secret meeting place. A restaurant in Chinatown. As he sits down, Brett offers to buy him drinks. He declines but Brett is very insistent. As Anthony is looking at the menu, Brett pours drinks into his glass and drop some powder in it. The powder dissolves almost instantaneously. By the time Anthony put down his menu, the powder has become invisible. The two chat and Brett hands him the document as they leave.

Back in his office, Anthony is shocked at the revelation in the document. He quickly calls his network to report breaking news. The network obliges. They start broadcasting and reporting that internal government documents have shown the Secretary of Treasury has misappropriated funds. Other media outlet ask for a copy. Solara, a growing media empire that has network in U.S. and Canada start reporting within seconds of receiving the document that it is a forgery. They immediately point out inconsistencies in the letter header with actual government header. Anthony is shocked. Brett has betrayed him. Other details start emerging. Details that only government insiders would know but is now being revealed to show the false information. Including some administrative staff names and information. Anthony was crushed.

Anthony see his career of 35 years coming to a brutal end. His network suspended him. But Anthony does not realize that those are the least of his worries.

Brett sits at his home watching the events unfold, staring intently to the screen with a devious smile. His mind is replaying the preparation they did before meeting Anthony. "Here's a chemical powder." Morris told him. "Not only do we want to discredit Anthony, we also want to make sure he does not regain his integrity ever again. This powder will induce a cancer on his body. It will then make the compromised cell acidic to create an environment that the cancer can thrive on."

Brett was looking forward to trying out the drug. He has worked as a secret agent for various agencies but never got to use such a drug. "Depends on how soon we want him dead. We can increase the dosage. This quantity will give him about 4 months to live. So by the time the controversy dies down, he will be on his way to permanent retirement." Morris says confidently.

As a result of Anthony's suspension, the interview with Oleg has also been buried.
Chapter 11 – Changing of the Guards

_  
Washington,_ _DC_

It has been a tumultuous campaign. In the heat of the campaign, the conglomerate approached the president to get his support for invading Bolivia. The president deferred making any decisions until after the election. Morris thought to himself that such a time would never come since the president's ratings are falling. The new rising star is a Latina named Eva Garcia.

Ray initially thinks she is being over-hyped. But as he watches her speak and talks about her vision, he is impressed and she wins him over. She has campaigned promising Open Government. She promises to offer unprecedented transparency and public involvement. Her slogan is "Hope for the future." Gracy is a bit more sceptical. She is not going to vote for her simply because she has a Spanish background.

As one star rises, another falls. Darius Davis, the son of the president who was assassinated in 2011, has been proclaimed as a promising politician. But he is staying at a hotel during the campaign and meets a lady at the bar. He is struck by her beauty and slips her a secret note of how to get in touch with him. He slips out to meet her and he thinks it would be a good break from campaigning to sleep at her place. The next day's news report of a lady claiming to have been sexually assaulted spreads. She has bruises on her face. She identifies the senator as the perpetrator. The senator is baffled. She is very friendly and perfectly fine when he left her place. They obtain DNA samples from the condom left at her place. His popularity sinks. A honey trap has been sprung and Darius Davis falls for it, costing him his political career.

The election is held and the U.S. have its first woman and Latina president. The crowd is ecstatic and there are celebrations and hopefulness that a new era of open government has began. She is inaugurated today and has officially moved into the White House.

_  
Manitoba,_ _Canada_

Barb Stanton has been travelling in Manitoba, Canada with not a care in the world. She has e-mailed her 8 friends and thinks she can now wash her hands of the affair. She convinces herself she did her part and there is no need to get herself in harm's way again. She has not seen much reporting about the cancer cure though. Maybe because she has been avoiding cities and staying in secluded places. She keeps north as much as she can. She is enjoying her new found freedom and had left her computer unit at her friend's cottage. Upon arriving at Manitoba, she heads to various beaches and lakes in the central and northern part of the province, enjoying the water and just relaxing. She then flies to Churchill and is lucky to have caught sight of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and lots of polar bears. She also gets up close and personal with several friendly Beluga whales in the oceans, along with other wildlife. After a month, she decides to move onto Saskatchewan and then Alberta and stays at Jasper enjoying the scenery and the glaciers.

Barb is rudely awaken by a nightmare while camping at Jasper one night. In her dream, her professor friend is laughing and seems very relaxed. But she tries talking to him and he cannot hear her. She starts yelling and he just keeps smiling and walks away. She decides she has to find out how he is doing. She makes up her mind that she would head out west as planned but leave sooner rather than later.

_  
Vancouver,_ _Canada_

Cedric and his friends go hiking in the pacific coast of Vancouver. After a week of hiking they check in to a hostel in the city of Vancouver and go for a day trip diving at Horseshoe Bay. Bobby even brought his own scuba gear. As the night sets in, they head out to watch Jake participate in some drag racing. But Jake is not here for ordinary drag racing. He is competing with other racers who have hacked their car to do reverse drive at high speed. All this is done using manual driving with self-drive disabled before the race in their private drag racing lot. The car's windshield rearview display is enabled. Cedric thinks it is silly but has tried it himself and did pretty well.

When they get back to the hostel, a lady at the portable phone unit looks distressed. She hangs up the phone and starts crying. Cedric approaches her and asks if everything is OK.

"My friend has just been murdered," Barb says crying with hands covering her mouth.

Cedric and his friends are shocked. "By whom?" Cedric asks while his friend is tagging his sleeve wanting to leave.

"By someone powerful. I am not quite sure who, but his name is Morris Stark."

"Why don't you call the police?" Cedric askes.

"I think it was the police who tried to kill me in Algonquin. I don't know, maybe they just dressed up like a police."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Cedric asks. Bobby drops his arm to the side forcefully with an expression that is equivalent to him saying "unbelievable." Barb hesitates. Cedric asks his friend to go ahead and he will catch up with them later. They leave with Bobby asking Cedric not to take too long.

"There is one thing," Barb says, pulling out a pendant. "This is a memory chip, it contains proof of people trying to conceal the cure for cancer."

Cedric can't believe his ears. Barb is shaking as she hands him the pendant. She quickly runs away to her room.

"Why are you encouraging that crazy lady?" the guy at the reception asks.

"What makes you think she is crazy?" Cedric asks.

"Well she has been blabbering nonsense since she arrived. About seeing ghosts or something. I think she is schizophrenic."

"That's too bad." Cedric wondered if he should return the pendant to her but decides to keep it.

The next day, Cedric and his friends prepare to drive back to San Francisco. Jake decides to stay and visit his relatives. He asks Cedric to drive his car home and keep it with him for now.

"I don't need a car that could drive high speed in reverse." Cedric jokes.

"You never know," Jake laughed.

The group of friends check out of the hostel. But there is one person who would not be checking herself out that day. Barb Stanton's cold body would be found later that day by the house cleaning crew.

_  
Saudi_ _Arabia_

Jabaar was happily filming the protest when suddenly gun shots are heard. The crowd panics and confusion ensues. They don't know where the gun fire is coming from. People in the crowd suddenly start bleeding from knife wounds. Someone is stabbing people randomly and moving away casually among the crowd. Jabaar's video catches one of the stabbers. The crowd is determined to stay but more shots are fired and the crowd disperses.

Jabaar rushes home in tears relating what had happened to his parents.

The next day there was uneasy calm in the kingdom. Jabaar decided to mail the video from last night to his friend who should now be in the United Arab Emirates. He drops off the mail and is about to head home when two plain clothes policemen grab him and push him into the van.

_  
The_ _White_ _House_

Eva Garcia is sitting at the oval office proud of herself. She is now the most powerful woman in the world. At least that is how it is supposed to be. But she quickly comes back to reality when she is informed that Morris Stark and the chief have arrived. The people who put her in power is here. Whoever said she is now the most powerful woman in the world has no idea.

As Morris and the chief march into the oval office, she offers to seat down with them on the oval office couch.

"Congratulations on your win," the chief said.

"All thanks to you. You were right when you said it is due for a Republican win and put me in as the Republican candidate." Eva says.

"It's not hard to predict. That is just how the American political cycle goes."

"I was pretty impressed with the open government and hope for the future theme."

"Yes, you just tell the people what they want to hear. Very well, there is one piece of business that we would like to get started on soon. I'll let Morris explain."

"It is about Bolivia. Their actions are causing so much pain to our conglomerate's partners. The sooner we usurp their president from power the better," Morris explains.

"How are we going to do that?" Eva wonders.

"By declaring that their president has been supporting drug smuggling into U.S."

"Enough to go to war with?"

"Yes, if there has been an outbreak of violence in the U.S."

Eva has a look of shock on her face. A meditated violence so soon after her win?

"Buckle up and get used to it. We have lots of business to do. You have nothing to fear. We will be using mostly our drones with the new Lucifer's Fork missile. You don't have to worry about public opposition for this or any future war. Large protests usually result from fear that large number of Americans will die. All casualties of war from now on would mostly be on the other side. Our media will make sure no graphic pictures or videos of civilian casualties are broadcasted to prevent the weak minded from protesting." Morris says without missing a beat.

It would almost seem prophetic for those who don't know what Morris is capable of. But sure enough within days, violence blamed on gangs broke out in Detroit. Reports from the media controlled by the conglomerate expose the link to close relative of Bolivia's president. Americans are outraged. Eva goes on T.V. to demand the president hand over his brother and other relatives or face the consequences. Bolivia's president is furious and accuses President Garcia of making things up.
Chapter 12 – Power Play

_  
Tortured_ _Souls  
(Warning:_ _Graphic_ _content)_

Jabaar's hood is removed after they tie him up to a chair.

Izz-al Din Qamar is one of the most feared man in Saudi. And Jabaar is about to find out why. Izz-al Din learned a lot from Morris Stark. Izz-al Din thinks Morris's brain is like a torture manual. He is a master of the art.

"Jabaar, you are being charged under the Motherland Defence Initiative for serious crimes of treason against your country, I would suggest that you co-operate and tell me who your accomplices are."

"What? I have no accomplice," Jabaar told the truth. "I was just there to join the rally."

"I see you want to play hard ball. People who play hard ball leave here with soft ball," Izz-al Din starts laughing.

Izz-al Din then faces his companion and says, "Whoever is squeamish better leave now and skip this one."

The guards just smirk and laugh. They've done this countless of times and none of this faze them.

"Let's tickle him first."

The guards immediately hold up both Jabaar's palms and feet, hitting both the palms and soles of his feet with hard plastic. Jabaar screams in pain.

Izz-al Din laughs and says, "You have seen nothing yet. Co-operate now and be spared from what has yet to come."

"I swear I was just there by myself. I just wanted to check out what is going on," Jabaar says almost in tears.

Izz-al Din sighs. "Are you thirsty?"

"I just want to go home," Jabaar pleads.

Izz-al Din signals to his man, who removes the rope from the chair and starts removing Jabaar's clothes. They then lay him down in a slanted wooden board and ties his hand and feet onto the board. His face is covered with a dark cloth and water is poured down the cloth. Jabaar starts choking as if he is drowning. He can feel water going up his nose. At first it was like drinking water and have it going the wrong way. But it gets worse and the pain in his nose between his eyes is unbearable. His lungs burn and felt like they are going to explode. Jabaar has heard about water boarding before and they say it just feels like drowning and is not really torture. He now knows firsthand that is a lie. He feels pain he has never felt before. At least with drowning it doesn't take long before you lose consciousness. But this pain just keeps repeating and it just gets worse as the time goes on. He is suffocating but he can't do anything about it nor can he swim up to the surface. It went on for what feels like eternity. They would stop to let him rest, perhaps to keep him conscious before resuming again. He is so afraid but he has nothing that they are asking for. After several times of going through the horrible pain over and over again, Jabaar faints.

They pour water on his face to wake him up. Now he finds himself back in the chair tied up with his underwear gone.

"So you did not like the water? Perhaps you would like some electricity."

"Please let me go. I did nothing wrong," Jabaar says in a weak voice.

"What were you doing at the rally? And you want to claim you did nothing wrong?" Izz-al Din sounds agitated.

One wire is attached to his foot and another to his testicle. The electric shock brings so much pain that Jabaar's body writhes in pain. The pain from having a ball hit his balls is nothing compared to this. There is no scream this time. It was so painful that his body just shakes and his eyeballs roll to the top. The succeeding shock gets increasingly painful. Jabaar starts hoping that he would just die.

After a few hours, the torturers are frustrated that they are not able to get anything out of him. They then tie him up in a standing position with no clothes on and leave him in that dark dingy cell.

On the other side of the cell, the scene is repeated against Okba, one of Jabaar's friends. But after the electric shock, he gives in. Not that he knows any accomplice but he just wants it to end. So he names Gamali, their friend who is currently in United Arab Emirates. He just remembers Gamali making fun of him when he was a kid. Okba is then released.

Gamali is apprehended by the United Arab Emirates and deported to Saudi where he too faces similar torture.

Okba is remorseful for naming Gamali and is filled with so much guilt that he commits suicide.

Jabaar remains naked in the standing position with constant loud music blaring. He is also constantly roused to keep him from sleeping. Sleep deprivation is one of the effective torture tools that Morris had taught Izz-al Din and his men. While Jabaar's body remains in jail, his mind is no longer with him.

_  
Satellite_ _TV_ _from_ _across_ _the_ _world_

Ray's Crowd-Sourced Net receives the videos from overnight express mail and starts broadcasting the content immediately. At first it was a video of a rally at Saudi that no one has heard about nor reported by the multinational media. Not even the supposed hard hitting Middle East network "Middle East Voice" says anything about this. The second video shows a horrifying scene of plain clothes police firing at protesters. There are random stabbing and people are just falling down on the floor from what looks like sniper fire.

The world is outraged and demand a response. But no such response is forthcoming from the newly elected president Eva Garcia.

_  
Courtroom_ _in_ _Italy_

The closing argument is fast approaching. Cristobal, Jacinto, Diego and Paulina have attended all of Angelino's court dates. The case is quickly coming to an end and things are not looking good for Angelino. The prosecutor's witness who is an expert at fingerprint forensics dismisses the possibility of a forged fingerprint using a mold/cast. There are several prints found and each overlay is not the same. A mold/cast imprint would have similar overlay each time. That is how they tell if a fingerprint is forged. There are certain this is not a forgery. The appearance is also consistent with an actual fingerprint with smooth outline rather than sharp line. All examination reveals inconsistencies that are characteristic of presence of actual human finger, that of the suspect.

Cristobal prays for miracle because that is the only thing that can help Angelino at this point. During a recess, Jacinto gets a call from Gracy telling them about something that they might be interested in. "I have good news and bad news," she says. They arrange to meet her that night and hope the good news can overwhelm the bad news and lead to Angelino's acquittal.

The court resumes its session the next day. There is a bit of commotion in front as the lawyers argue off the the record in front of the judge. The judge does not seem pleased but asks Angelino's lawyer to proceed. Angelino's lawyer, Branden Boyce, asks for a fingerprint forensic expert as a witness. Branden offers his finger for the expert to get a fingerprint. His fingerprints are then displayed on a big screen.

The lawyer then picks up a glass that has been wiped clean. He picks it up to drink from then asks the forensic expert to investigate that fingerprint. It matches as expected. A machine is then brought in. The murmurs in the crowd grow at the sight of this unusual machine that looks like a big printer. The judge pounds on the gavel to silence the audience.

"This is a glass that I have touched at various points. I was in a bar and left this there the night of the alleged crime. Whoever knows that I had altercation with the victim would know that I was at that bar drinking," the lawyer explains as he tries to role play what happened with Angelino at the bar that night.

He then takes a scanner attached to the printer and starts scanning the glass. He then clicks on the touch screen of the printer to display the various fingerprints. He then merges all of them to create a more complete fingerprint that almost covers the bottom of a whole finger.

The lawyer hits a few buttons and the machine starts making some noise. The machine is a replicator, similar to a 3D printer but not quite. This is unlike a 3D printer of the early 2000s that printed onto a hard surface. This one prints to a flexible cultured skin graft of a human. It can print up to microscopic level details. The lawyer then opens the cabinet enclosure revealing a tablet that looks like a thick block of wood the colour, flexibility and texture of a skin. He puts on a glove and reaches in pulling out what looks like a severed finger. The audience gasps. He then opened a toy gun that still had factory seals on it. He quickly pushes the finger on several parts of the gun. The lawyer then returns the gun to the forensic expert to examine. The expert uses the new technology for rapid analysis of a fingerprint and is flabbergasted. "How could this be?" It is an exact match.

The prosecutor starts questioning the witness but the expert explains that all procedures used to identify a forgery have failed, meaning they would have considered this legitimate and prosecute the defence lawyer as a result. "I know this is a never before seen technology. Who would have this technology?" asked the prosecutor.

Jacinto and friends think, "Oh oh, now onto what Gracy said is the bad news part."

Prosecutor then replies to his own question, "No one. So what are the chances that the accused is framed by who is probably just one person, the new inventor who just came up with this?"

Jacinto is glad he did not pursue the who. Since Gracy has said she won't be able to help them identify who among her clients has this even if the court ordered it.

The court recesses and the next day the closing statements are delivered. The court then resumes again for the verdict. "All rise" the clerk declares.

"Has the jury reached its verdict?" The judge asks.

"Yes we have your honour," replied the leader of the jury.

Angelino's heart is pounding so hard. Then the jury reads out the verdict.

"Not guilty!" Angelino's friends erupt in cheers while other charges are also declared not guilty.

Hordes of media chase Angelino as he comes out of the courtroom.

"Do you know who framed you?" the media asks.

"Ask our Prime Minister Romeo Vitale," Angelino feels like saying but decides to keep quiet and let the lawyer do the talking.

_  
Somewhere_ _in_ _Italy_

"It is time to let that bastard pay," Angelino says.

"Are you taking revenge?" Diego wonders.

"Not an eye for an eye type. But just to finish what I have started. The reason they tried to put me away."

"What do you have in mind?" Cristobal asks.

"I know who the administrator or secretary for the head of the media is. The media that is partly owned by our Prime Minister."

"And...?" Diego asks.

"They could have the best security money can buy but there is always one weak link in the system." Angelino says.

"Human." Jacinto adds.

"Yes. We can break into the system by social engineering," Angelino explains.

"I guess we'll get to witness how good you are." Cristobal said.

"Just hope she did not watch the news and see me today. Or maybe that would actually help."

The friends then decided to head to a bar that the administrator is said to frequent. And sure enough she is there. Angelino approaches her and starts flirting with her. She seems impressed and they start talking. Angelino keeps pouring her drinks and soon she is evidently drunk.

"You are so pretty. I'll bet your boss can't keep his hands off you," Angelino says.

"What do you know?" She replies in garbled talk and starts laughing. She then starts telling them about their affair and where they usually do it.

With that information on hand Angelino fabricates a photo of them together and put it on a memory chip with hidden GPS and mailed it to the head of the media marked as "Personal and confidential." He also assembles speeches of the Prime Minister and records them onto his computer unit. He uses the automated robot speaker to process and learn the Prime Minister's voice.

The next day they track where the memory chip is. Upon seeing it has reached the office of the media boss Beppe Beniamino, they sit down in front of their computer, ready for an assault.

Beppe has small hands but a big stomach. He used to be a political news magazine host and has always done big favours for the current Italian Prime Minister Romeo Vitale. He became good friends with the PM behind the camera. He would always ask the PM soft questions while giving his opponent hard questions and taking them out of context. He is known for his smirk and shifty eye especially when trying to manoeuvre his questioning to trap the PM opponent. He has been promised a lucrative appointment in government position for life for his contribution to TV arts.

Beppe opens the package on his desk and sees a letter saying "Video of you and your assistant. Especially like the shot of you and her in your favourite position on your mahogany desk. Mail us a cheque and we will get rid of our copy." He panics and inserts the media into his computer to see what they have. Unknown to him, the chip automatically installs a system level virus and spyware that would turn ON his video and mic without turning on the ON indicator light. But all his mind could think of right now is what sort of compromising video could be in the chip. He quickly searches for the video and it shows his assistant walking. He forwards and sees a video of a shot of a still picture of him and the assistant that is obviously doctored. "Punk!" he says angrily, knowing he has been duped and they have nothing on him. Then his phone that is connected to his computer unit starts to ring.

"Hello," he answers with an angry voice which quickly turns friendly upon hearing the voice on the other end. "Oh hi Romeo."

"I just need to talk," says the man on the other line who the media boss recognizes as Italy's Prime Minister.

"About what?"

"Just want to thank you for helping me cover up that godfather file that the punk kid stole. Did you like my performance?"

"Oh yeah, that was excellent," the media boss says. "I am very disappointed with the people that I trusted. No stone will be left unturned. I was unaware that there were outside forces involved." Beppe repeats word for word of the Prime Minister's speech following the revelation, complete with imitation of his serious and angry voice that time.

"Haha. I did not know you could imitate my voice like that. Almost like those new robot speaker simulators."

"Yeah I heard about those. Aren't those scary? You can be talking to a robot impersonator and not know it."

"True. How times has change."

"Yeah. But I thought your looking serious and upset convinced people you are sincere. Your rating stopped falling after that."

"Thanks to you of course," the man on the phone replies.

"Everything is set for that media campaign to help Cardinal Kojo Thulani."

"Good. Why don't you detail our plan again to make sure you got it down to the detail?"

"Yeah. We'll run a biography painting a positive picture of the cardinal and that he is a charitable person. et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Like you said, once we hype him up he will probably get elected as pope then we will do better than Mussolini, who was only able to get the Vatican's silence and neutrality in World War II after having given them their own country. We could have a pope as our spokesperson." Beppe started laughing until he started choking and his face turned all red.

"Yeah thanks for doing your part."

"I am here for you any time Mr. Prime Minister. Let me know what you want to sell to those clueless Italian next time." the boss said and started laughing again.

"Why don't you ask them directly?"

"What do you mean?" the boss is puzzled.

"This is a robot speaker simulator of the Prime Minister talking and you are live online right now."

A screen pops-up on the computer showing a reflection of Beppe's face on his own video with mouth wide open.

The news spreads like wildfire and the Prime Minister's office phone won't stop ringing. Protesters start gathering outside the Prime Minister's office and the disgraced media's boss office.

Angelino and his friend then pack up their things and leave the motel that was their command centre.

Bolivia

Adolfo is heading home after working the night shift. His watch has just hit midnight. Just a few more steps and he'll be home. Suddenly the noise of several low flying machines can be heard, followed by loud explosions. He runs to duck. But soon, the entire block is on fire. He can't see his hom from here, but it is hard to imagine his home escaped the huge balls of fire that seem to engulf the whole neighbourhood.

He tries to run toward his home, but the heat from the fire proves to be too much. He is screaming and in tears. The bombing goes on for the whole night. The presidential residence is also on fire. A group of marine commandos lands right in the president's bedroom with a hole punched through the roof. Gunfire is exchanged, but the presidential security proves to be no match against the U.S. Marines. Soon they have the the president and the fighting intensifies. They have retrieved the president and brought him up through the helicopter. Talon Gladwell is among the elite marines. He and a few others are left to hold off fire and allow the retrieval of the president to be completed. Talon Gladwell's talent were evident as soon as he joined the marine. He has practised different types of martial arts and can easily beat off his opponent. He can confidently take out even the best of his enemies. But there is something he did not foresee tonight.

The retrieval has been completed and they are commanded to leave the compound. Talon Gladwell is doing a good job holding the presidential guards back when a drone drops a Lucifer's Fork missile close to where he is, engulfing the place on fire. As he climbs up the rope to go back up, a rollover fire on the ceiling catches his face. Talon screams in pain as the fire burns his face. His companion quickly pulls him out. Another marine who is trying to help Talon is then shot by one of the presidential guards and dies. His body is quickly pulled up as they move out of the area. The rest of the marines escape and the mission ends. At least for them. The drone continues its attack until dawn sending civilians running in panic. No police station is left standing. Houses that were unfortunate enough to be located beside them are destroyed as well.

A new president is sworn in the next day. The conglomerate has groomed him for the job. He is opposed by their police force but supported by a corrupt Bolivian army general.

_  
Saudi_ _Arabia_

A van pulls up in a quiet street of Saudi Arabia and dumps a man into the street. The man tumbles to the ground and slowly gets up. He starts walking, but his face looks blank like a zombie. A few days ago, Jabaar was an energetic young man so full of life and hope. Now he is just another crazy man walking the streets of Saudi Arabia. Passersby give him food and he gobbles it up like an animal that has not been fed in years.

Jabaar spends the next few days walking aimlessly, unaware that his videos have sparked outrage. Large numbers of people keep pouring in from different parts of Saudi to protest the government's corruption and brutality. Jabaar inadvertently gets caught in one large group and he starts screaming. Everybody turns toward him and one of his neighbour recognizes him and takes him home. His parents are in tears and hug him and won't let him go.

They try to give him shower but Jabaar panics and starts crying and pleading, "Please don't torture me anymore. I did nothing wrong." His mother is in tears, holding Jabaar's face. She hugs him again as Jabaar starts crying out loud. Jabaar falls asleep and his father helps him to his bed.

He has slowly recovered as the week go on. He goes from being catatonic to making slow careful movements as if he is walking on a tight rope. His parents try to tell him stories about the good old times. After a week, he seems to be back to himself but it is still impossible to get a smile out of him.

One morning he wakes up to see his father watching Crowd-Sourced Net live broadcast of the rally through a live feed from the people's portable satellite video camera smuggled in by Ray's company. Jabaar stands there watching. Upon realizing Jabaar's presence, his mother tries to turn off the TV and scolds Jabaar's dad for turning to that channel.

"It's ok mama. I have to join them."

"No. You are not well." His mom pleads.

"I won't get well by staying at home. We have unfinished business." Jabaar for the first time has a sense of purpose on his face.

"Please don't get involved in this anymore. Let other people take care of it. You've seen what they are capable of. They will murder people without hesitation."

"It is better to die fighting than to be enslaved and see grave injustice done to your fellow men and stay silent," Jabaar says as he grabs his unit with a built-in camera and heads out the door.
Chapter 13 – The Last Lecture

_  
Yale_ _University_

Roy Merritt is an economic professor at Yale University. He loves to engage his students in debate. But with the school year coming to a close and all the lectures for the course already completed, he decides to entertain his students' request that he talk about his controversial book and his opinion and disagreement with other economists.

"What is an ideal economic model? Depends on what generation you were born in. Economy could simply be people trading with each other what they deem is a fair deal. It increasingly became more complex as trading grew in size. But later on there was an unnecessary introduction of complexity that deviates from the basic principle of trading to speculative and questionable practices. This new system allows fraud and unethical conduct to propagate."

Morris Stark arrives in Yale to meet the dean of the department of economics. But he decides to drop in on the lecture of a wayward professor. The professor is in the middle of his lecture when Morris walks in and takes a seat at the back.

"While corporations recklessly speculate and lose big money, government bails them out with tax payers' money. Some companies use derivatives to artificially inflate their earnings, misleading the investors. Some companies engage in questionable accounting practices with accounting and auditing firms increasingly colluding with them in the practice of 'cosmetic accounting', turning them into a sleazy jugglers instead of an honest, transparent public trust corporations. The supposedly reputable accounting firm paid by the company then helps them manipulate their financial statement to look more attractive than it actually is. They also remain silent and help sweep any irregularities that they find under the carpet," Roy says, delivering his statement in a passionate tone. He continues.

"Meanwhile, a government who is supposed to look after the public's interest failed the investors, consumers, client and taxpayers by promoting the freedom sounding name 'Free Market'. Under this nice sounding name, they claim that for jobs to be created and business to prosper, regulations and oversight from the government should cease to exist. These big business can take care and police themselves we were told."

"Imagine!" Roy pounds his fist in the air to emphasize. "Just imagine. The government must think that these people, who have control over billions of the public's money, can police themselves with no chance of fraud nor malpractice. Even in the face of evidence of fraud and malpractice, government bails them out with the taxpayers' money with those fraudulent, or at best reckless, CEOs remaining in place. These CEOs, instead of being investigated, continue to be paid millions and some even get bonuses. Instead of taking them to task, the government appoints their employee to vital government positions of finance, economy and treasury. And when people protest, the government pays lip service saying 'yes, we can and we will take care of the root of the problem.' But their words sound hollow as they continue to appoint people from the company in question to government posts. The slogan that things will change is just that, an empty slogan."

Roy pauses to take a sip of water from the glass on his desk. Morris Stark crosses his arm across his chest and thinks something has to be done about this inflammatory professor.

"Let's differentiate between what Free Enterprise and Free Market are. Free Enterprise is not the same as Free Market, although one is often confused with the other."

"Free Enterprise is freedom to do business and trade goods and services."

"Free Market is freeing the market from any government oversight resulting in freedom to commit fraud."

"Free Enterprise promotes competition."

"Free Market promotes monopoly and anti-competitive practices."

"Free Enterprise relies on making customers happy to gain market shares. Making sure their needs are met."

"Free Market relies on buying up competition and leaving customers no choice for they are pretty much the only game left in town."

"Free Enterprise capital is spread out among many businesses and institutions."

"Free Market capital is concentrated and controlled by the few."

"Free Enterprise promotes a wider base of innovation."

"Free Market limits innovation to few big companies."

"Free Enterprise businessmen's failures affect their own capital and investors."

"Free Market CEOs failures affects taxpayers."

Roy's lecture is interrupted by applaud from the class. But it only earns a smirk from Morris.

"We need a new economic model that is sustainable. A balanced economy not lopsided to favour just the big businesses and campaign contributors. But nor should it be lopsided to favour labourers alone. We have witnessed extreme socialism in the form of communism failing. We are now witnessing extreme capitalism whose only means of survival is exponential growth through ever increasing consumer debt and ever increasing consumerism achievable only if people continue to live beyond their means. And only if we have an infinite amount of resources. An exponential growth in consumption of resources with conservation looks at as a drag."

Roy paces to the other side of the room where Morris is sitting. "We need a more decentralized government system to improve efficiency. A government that looks after social welfare of its citizens does not have to be big government. But it has to be an efficient and open government. Yes, there are things that could benefit from economy of scale, such as healthcare, pension, electricity and utilities to name a few. But these essential services should be run by co-operatives that are a non-profit, non-political appointee organizations. Overly big and centralized structures lead to big, inefficient bureaucracy. More localized structures would ensure people's needs are looked after more effectively and more input is obtained from the local level. "

Roy paces to the opposite side of the room, earning him a scornful look from Morris as he walks away. "We need fairer and more stable minimum wages for the workers. A minimum wage should be enough for a person to meet their basic needs. Heating and clothing for the winter and a healthy diet. A family should be able to raise their children to live healthy lives. Minimum wage should automatically adjust with inflation. Don't let them tell you that businesses won't be able to pay minimum wage. If a business cannot afford to pay its workers wages that would allow them to meet their basic needs to survive, then that business is engaged in slave labour akin to sweatshops and should not be in the business. Just because you want a decent wage for workers does not mean you are a communist. Similarly, just because you want a competitive tax rate for businesses does not mean you are a free marketer."

Ray looks around at the faces of his students and says, "Our youth are being neglected.. While politicians waste money on pork barrels during election time they only offer token spending for education and innovation. Both critical for helping our youth have a better future and for creating more jobs. Around the world, youth are becoming the marginalized sector of our society. Among this group, there is more than 50% unemployment rate. While the retirees are contented with the status quo and remain silent about political patronage, the youth suffers. One of my favourite quotes is:

'A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in' which is from a Greek proverb. We need to revamp our system from a politics with short term vision targeted only for each term in office, to one that emphasizes long term planning and more efficient use of citizen's money."

A student raises his hand and is acknowledged by Roy. "What can you say about accusations that you are nuts and a left winger?" The class erupts in laughter and Roy smiles.

"We need to move away from having a binary logic of either you are left or right, of either you are my friend or my enemy. I know people who call for rightful regulation and investigation of fraudulent companies are being accused of being communist, left wing, nutcases and other nice sounding names. Also there is a dumbing down of logic. For example, just because John Doe is a criminal and eats ice cream does not mean all ice cream eaters are criminals." Roy smiles as the class laughs.

"We are ridiculed and accused of wanting to see our corporations crumble and of being job killers. We are asking for none of this. But our detractors think by repeatedly making these accusations they can silence us. The result is what is called outcasting."

Morris laughs silently and thinks, "No, actually the chief's art of effective deception calls that 'Shame and bully them into silence' but you are pretty close."

Roy walks back to the centre of the room. "It is important that we have an open government. That would take care of a lot of conflict of interest and corruption right now. Right now we have a succession of governments that do not want to govern. They are more interested in tearing down the institution that is supposed to protect the public's interest. An institution that stands in the way of allowing their corrupt CEO and company to profit and defraud people without restraint. By open government, I don't mean the evanized form of open government."

"What is an evanized form of open government?" One student asks.

"It is the open government that Eva Garcia campaigned for. But all her actions to date involve rolling back measures for government to retain their records and making them public. Roll back of measures that have been in place to ensure accountability."

That comment results in murmurs among the students. Eva Garcia have recently been elected and still has a big fan base who have a hard time believing someone could have been such a blatant liar. So they choose to believe she is still the saviour they dreamt her to be. Morris saw another of the chief's teaching at work. The big lie that people would readily believe because they are unable to comprehend that someone could lie this much, while some quickly dismiss the thoughts that they have been had in a big way.

Another student raises her hand and asks another question. "Do you think the recent accident involving the Zeus 1, marketed as the electric car that would make oil extinct, has anything to do with anti-competitive practices?"

"Sorry I am not involved in the case and can just speculate at best so I'd rather not do that. But there was a case of a conspiracy and this is an actual case, not a conspiracy nutjob's theory which they like to accuse me of these days." Roy laughs as the class laughs with him.

"Major cities in the U.S. have had a good network of electric streetcars installed as early as the 1920s. But that nice network of streetcars has been dismantled. The major oil and car companies in the U.S. colluded to phase them out and replace them with oil reliant buses. They would later be convicted in what had became known as the 'Great American streetcar scandal'. But the damage has been done. It was a big setback for an efficient public transport system, which was privatized to a car company who would sell them out. At that time people relied on public transport. But the conspirators instead lobbied for creation of highways and the use of individually driven cars."

Morris has heard enough and decides to leave for the dean's office. He has more pressing business that has worldwide implications. Morris thinks that as annoying as Roy is, he is an insignificant player in the wider scheme of things.

_  
Yale_ _University_ _Dean's_ _Office_

Morris Stark is greeted warmly by the dean. "It is an honour to have you here."

Irwin Fox is a popular economist with lots of connections in the banking industry. The university feels honoured to have him as the dean. However, there are a lot of things they don't know about Irwin Fox.

Morris takes a seat and gets down to business right away. "The chief is recommending you to the president's economic council. We need strong supporters against some Senators and Congressman who would like to weaken our ability to do business."

"I will be more than happy to take on the job."

"Good, so I'll waste no time and go on to brief you on our grand economic plan to conquer the world by economic means. You will be coordinating with our man at IMF, no other than the chief of IMF himself. The plan is to entice various countries to take up loans from the IMF. As part of the deal, they would have to privatize their utilities, water and other industry. This would allow us to buy them up and dictate policies as conditions for the loans. Policies will be mostly economic at first and we can eventually influence their political institutions also."

"Sounds like a good plan."

"Various European and Asian countries have also bitten on the bait of our shadow company. The stocks were marketed as triple A, top and secure investment. As the value of these investments fall, the losses from these countries banks will be substantial. Through our IMF chief, we will come in as the saviour giving them a rescue loan with the condition that they pass laws that would make it easier for our sister companies to take over their utilities and industries."

"Brilliant idea." Irwin Fox gives a naughty grin.

"We want to execute this as soon as possible."

The meeting soon ends and as Morris reaches the door he turns around. "Oh by the way, that economic professor Roy Merritt, do me a favour and get rid of him. He is giving Yale's business friendly reputation a bad name."

"I'll see to it that he does not come back next year" the dean promises.
Chapter 14 – The Purge

_  
Janine_ _Rita's_ _Residence_

Janine Rita got a call 30 minutes ago. Her friend Felicity Hansen sounds very upset and wants to talk to her. She asks her to come over. They both went to the same school and she knows Felicity does not get rattled easily. She was a promising researcher when she joined Salisium Inc. The company introduced a salt alternative and additive called Salisium. Its worldwide sales have hit past the billion dollar mark. Felicity works hard in her department, which is involved in demonstrating that Salisium is safe and there are no detrimental health effects. Felicity fought the early release of report that she thought was premature. But the product has been approved by Health Canada and the FDA, with countries around the world following suit. Felicity once confided in Janine that the government agency won't release the taxpayer funded study, and she suspects they just copied the report given by their company. She has now completed her study and is troubled by what she found. Her boss Ted Benton was mad that she keep pushing her findings.

Janine's doorbell ring and she answers quickly. Felicity looks distressed.

"What happened?" Janine asks.

"I had a big argument with Ted. It was not pretty. He was very upset," Felicity says.

"Have a seat." Janine offers her couch and a drink to Felicity.

"I've tried to explain that there is irrefutable evidence that regular use of Salisium substantially increases risk of fatal cancer. Ted would have none of it. He says even second hand smoke claims of cancer effect can be disputed to this day."

"What? He really said that?" Janine is surprised.

"I think his mind is focused so much on billion dollars of possible lost sales that he refuses to accept the truth."

"What are you going to do then?"

"I told him either he makes the announcement for the public to scale back their usage or I will go to the press with this." Felicity waves a binder of papers in her hand. While she hardly prints anything anymore, with everything saved on her tablet or memory chip, she decides to print this one to have as a hard copy.

"It is really weird what is going on in the government nowadays. At the FDA, the government is increasingly cutting back and my findings are being ignored. It is not hard to screen for food safety. It used to be we had people taking wide samples of food on the market and testing them. Now that is practically impossible. They have also increased the red tape and made it more centralized so that we cannot independently publish our findings without executives approving them. We are treated like we don't know what we are doing. I've brought up my findings on large amount of chemical presence in World Food Inc. products and was reassigned to work on something else and my findings just got buried."

"I never heard about that. Food on supermarket shelves are mostly from World Food Inc now. They own plantations for oranges in Florida, bananas in tropical countries, vegetables, canned foods. It is hard to pick up a food that is not from World Food Inc," Felicity says.

"Yeah, and it is easy to test for harmful ingredients in food. Those containers and toys with heavy metals like lead and cadmium. Just put it on an x-ray fluorescence for a few minutes and you can detect its presence. So there is really no excuse that we are not doing that and are instead finding out from university students who happen to be playing around with their school's x-ray fluorescence to test their niece or nephew's toys. The government could have easily done that if they do their jobs. For insecticides and other toxic chemical residues in vegetables, fruits, waters, meats and drinks we use instruments like mass spectrometry. But there is a freeze on purchasing new equipment and our findings are repeatedly being blocked by executives. Whether it is incompetence or corruption I don't know. But my cynical side suspects our executives are corrupted. One colleague saw them dining with an executive from World Food Inc."

"I also heard World Food Inc. is going after independent farmers for harvesting plants with traces of their patented genetically modified foods. The farmer swears they did not plant using their seeds. Can you tell the difference between the two?"

"The thing is those seeds have spread and got mixed up with normal seeds so it is hard to tell when you go to a market what seeds are the World Food Inc. patented ones. Whether it was accidentally mixed up who knows."

"I am really sick and tired of all this. It is frustrating," Felicity says with a sigh and then continues, "Well it certainly feels a bit better talking to you. Even more worried and helpless but it helps to be able to tell someone rather than the stone wall Ted Benton."

_  
Ted_ _Benton's_ _Residence_

Ted Benton is pretty exhausted from a busy night. He had to argue with that rebellious employee Felicity Hansen. He got his mind off that problem while at the party hosted by one of the executives of World Food Inc. He mentioned his problem to the executive and was told about the conglomerate who is able to take care of any problem. Ted Benton was excited to hear and asked the executive to give him the contact information for this conglomerate.

Ted Benton's mind was put at ease after talking to a guy named Morris Stark. He is supposedly very capable and well respected. Morris assured Ted he had nothing to worry about, that they can effectively counter any claim she might bring against him in the press.

Ted has a very sound sleep that night and is awoken by his alarm in the morning. He brewed his coffee and takes a shower. He sits at his kitchen table watching the day's news. He is shocked when he hears the news that a car hit a gas tanker on the highway and exploded. But his shock was nothing compared to the shock that follows when he hears the name of the victim, Felicity Hansen. His mind starts wondering if this has anything to do with his request last night to take care of Felicity. He certainly did not mean it that way. But he tries to dismiss that thought and tells himself that these are executives of reputable organizations that he spoke to so certainly they are not capable of such a thing. He would have laughed at his silly thoughts but Felicity's dead is causing him so much grief. They had serious disagreements but he likes Felicity and her dedication to her work. He realizes then that no disagreement is worth the life of anyone.

Amid his sorrow, he wonders what Morris Stark had in mind when he says he would take care of it. Ted told himself he would need to talk to Morris and clear things up when he have a chance.

_  
Scenes_ _of_ _the_ _Crimes_

Solara news featured prominently Professor Jack Garrick rant and incoherent talk about a cure for cancer. Solara's pundit and anchor labelled it as the mad man's cure. They ridiculed him and people who are misled into false hope of cancer cure. Benjie Scott cannot believe his eyes and what Solara has reported. That is not the professor he knows. Benjie Scott rushs to see the professor but learns that he has been institutionalized. Benjie then rushes to Jack's office and sees that his computer and any trace of his research are gone. For Morris Stark, it was another job well done. The drug works effectively by attacking a specific part of Jack's brain to induce psychosis, discrediting him permanently.

World Food Inc. has been delivering food to South Africa and various parts of the world for decades. Jeris Wilfrid was in charge of the company's food distribution in Africa. He grew up in the U.S. but moved to South Africa since he loves it there. His pale white skin has since turned tan since moving there. He is growing concerned about reports of a troubling increase in cases of infertility. There have also been cases of increasing death. But there was no virus or disease that could be identified. One prominent researcher, Nsia Kgosi, told Jeris that it almost seems like there is a sudden induced genetic defects that is causing the death. The researcher studied the deaths and found widespread DNA aberrations in the makeup of the patient's DNA. Nsia think they might be witnessing a new disease. But it does not appear to be contagious. Jeris wonders what could have caused this. Since he is in the food industry, he thinks the prudent thing to do is inform their headquarters to make sure their food is not the cause. But his report gets the attention from one of the top executives. Jeris got a termination notice the next day saying his service are no longer needed.

An explosion interrupts the quietness of the night at a plant in Minnesota. Tryon plant was decimated and their capacity for building the new efficient solar cells disabled. The investigation after revealed the attackers must have had insider's help since they targeted the most vulnerable part of the plant from the outside, causing widespread explosion that quickly spreads. Gracy got the call early in the morning. She remembered the site well, having worked closely with Tryon to use the solar panel on her company's new tablet.

Morris and the chief know that the Saudi monarchy is falling. They have quickly come up with contingency plan of presenting the military as a stable transition caretaker. They have made sure that the Saudi's military and President Eva Garcia have the same line about the need for democracy with the transition handled by the military. Making sure there is no mention of the fact that countless revolutions around the world did not necessitate a "stable transition", which had allowed them to rid themselves of all of the officials from the previous regime. But Morris agrees with the chief that it has to be a slow transition to allow as many of their men as possible to stay in power. This would buy them some precious time and allow them to groom their next candidate, if they have to resort to democratic election to appease the crowd. The Middle East Voice could also help hype up their chosen candidate. In the unlikely event that all their plans failed, they could create civil strife, or inflame religious or ethnic violence. "We will give them no peace until they submit to one of our chosen leaders. We will make them realize that it is a futile effort," the chief had said. "I would much rather have a caliphate rather than a cumbersome democracy. Just as in Yemen when the people tried to start another revolution, we were able to buy more time with their military control until we are able to groom our man for the election. But thankfully we were able to rouse religious division and introduced a country ruled by religious law. While the people die and fight for us thinking they are fighting for their religion, their leader continued the flow of oil in their pipeline and give us our share of the profit, with the guarantee that they will stay as ruler in their country. It is time to handover the rule in Saudi to the military."

The monarch in Saudi protested, but he is soon overpowered.

The cyberwarfare room of the conglomerate in Paraguay is teeming with activities as operation 'Secret Eyes' gets underway. Cameras have become a staple in a lot of homes around the world, with a range of uses from video conferencing to gaming. The operation is taking advantage of that. The conglomerate's blacklist of people is being monitored. "While we could easily tap into any records of online activity, the best moments can be had in people's living rooms at their most comfortable times talking candidly about issues with trusted relatives and love ones," the chief once told Morris. And that is the task of the army of snoops in this control room. All cameras are turning ON oblivious to the people being spied on. As far as they know they have turned the power switch on their unit to OFF. Their conversations and facial expressions are watched and any conversation that might be of interest is recorded. Luitger Gerhold is pretty proud of his accomplishment. He helped design the program and this is the first time this is being used on this scale. Morris even congratulated him personally.

Tracy has posted criticism against the president that has attracted a lot of sympathizing replies. Her monitor at the cyberwarfare room sees her in her apron cooking dinner. Larry's face is captured by a video during the rally against the Pegasus corporation and facial recognition software linked him to his profile at The Node and his camera unit at home. His monitor sees nothing to report as he just sits on his couch watching TV. Mark's campaign against World Food Inc. has earned him a spot on the blacklist and his monitor is having a field day watching him having sex in the couch with a girl. The girl's face is put into a facial recognition software and is identified as a girl who was also at the same rally as Mark. Joyce's hot blog about a senator's conflict of interest scandal means she is among one of the many whose cameras are secretly watching her tonight. Her camera paints an unflattering image of her to her monitor while she is relaxed at home in her underwear, eating junk food with her hair in a spiky mess.

While it has been a busy day of purging the world of people that could pose potential harm to the conglomerate's interest, there is one executive that Morris is sending away in good terms. He is none other than the executive of Canada's Manitoba Hydro. The plan to force the privatization of the utility was many years in the making. The public utility racked up huge amount of debt that the government expressed the need for privatization to save it. Morris picked the CEO who has never worked at Manitoba Hydro. He was parachuted in to oversee the privatization. Now that the privatization is complete, he can now resign and retire in comfort. He has been promised a hefty bonus. But before he leaves, there is one thing that he was asked to do. Connect the controls of the utility to the network. Some staff have protested, citing security concerns, but the executive did as he was told, explaining that it would save cost and maximize profit. Any breach in security is unlikely and can easily be mitigated. The cost benefit trumps the miniscule risk.

There was however a minor crimp on an otherwise successful operation in Manitoba, Morris remembers. An employee is working late and overhears the CEO's conversation with his late night visitor, Morris. They have to convince the man that they can explain everything and accompany him to his home. He resists initially but they insist on walking him home and then chat with him. Once they reach his house, Morris goes to work, charging his way in and hitting the employee's head to make him lose consciousness. He then takes out his wallet and lays it out on his desk. Morris turns on his computer and leaves his car key on the desk. They make it look like he is just out for a walk and intends to come back right away. Search parties are sent after co-workers and relatives report him as missing. They eventually find his body in the river. Police rule it an unfortunate accident from a fall during a stroll. His head hit the pavement before falling into the river, the police report read.

Morris Stark and the chief are in a celebratory mood. It has been a very productive day at their underground base in Paraguay.

_  
New_ _York_ _City_ _Private_ _Reception_

Morris Stark flies to New York for a reception he is hosting. Big names from various corporation are all present. Ted Benton is among the attendees. He waits the whole night for an opportunity to talk to Morris privately. As some guest start leaving, Ted thinks he will proceed and ask Morris if he can talk.

"Hi Morris, I am Ted. My friend at World Food Inc. recommended you. I am from Salisium Inc."

"Oh yes, of course I remember. Are you contented with the result?"

"What result? Ted Benton wonders. "Can I talk to you in private?"

Morris is surprised. "Of course, of course, come to my office."

Both walk into Morris office. Ted does not waste time. "I just want to know if my employee Felicity was somehow..."

"Oh Felicity, the thorn in your side."

"Yes, but I... I don't know how to say this."

Morris just smiles as if he is enjoying the moment.

"Did you have her killed?" Ted blurts out.

Morris laughs. "Well first, we don't disclose how we do our job. Our clients prefer it that way."

Ted's facial expression turns pale.

"But would you kill for a billion dollars if you could get away with it?"

Ted tries to catch a breath and no voice can come out of his mouth.

"Ah, I sense hesitation." Morris laughs. He taps Ted on his shoulder and Ted flinches. "Don't worry, relax, you can say we did not kill her. It was an unfortunate accident that nobody could have foreseen."

Ted starts smiling. "I am sorry I have to ask such a silly question."

Morris smirks and leaves Ted in the room.

Ted thinks to himself, "There is no way these influential men can engage in such an unlawful act."

For the sake of his peace of mind, Ted hears what he wanted from Morris. It was an accident. But subconsciously, there is still lingering unease and doubts. This would later cause Ted many sleepless nights, the cause of which he would never know. For there are some things that you just can't bury.
Chapter 15 – The Chase

_  
San_ _Francisco,_ _U.S.A._

It was a long drive home for Cedric and his friends as their vacation came to a close. Cedric went to bed early and is just waking up now. He looks at the clock and can't believe it is almost noon. He starts stretching in his bed. That was a good trip and it felt so good to finally sleep in his own bed. He is back at home. Not just any home. This is the home that he and Eldon grew up in. Their parents chose to move to Ireland and retire there, leaving the house to them. But Eldon prefers to stay and work in New York.

Cedric gets up and starts preparing some breakfast. He then checks his messages on The Node. Cedric also checks his messages and checks in on his friends at the open source alternative for The Node. But he is not able to convince all of his friends and relatives to switch to the less marketed but more open web and social net gateway. There is one message from Bobby, telling him he left his scuba diving and camping gear in the trunk of Jake's car. After finishing his breakfast he spends the rest of the day unpacking. As he is about to put away his luggage, he notices the pendant in the internal side pocket. He smiles, thinking how he was initially concerned, thinking what the crazy lady was saying is true. He wonders what caused the lady to become a schizophrenic like that. Maybe that pendant contains some family memories that would answer that question. He debated whether to check the content or not since it might contain her personal and private information. Then he wonders if her family knows her fate. Maybe he can find some clue and contact her family just to let them know he saw her at that Vancouver hostel. Convinced that he is doing the right thing, he takes the pendant and brings it to his computer unit.

He turns on the unit and the display is projected to his wall instantaneously. He starts transmitting the content of the memory chip in the pendant. There is some text file that looks like some papers on research about health issues. He skips that and sees a format that looks like a video file. He quickly searchs the format and downloads a player. He starts to play the file on the pendant. What appears on the screen shocks him. He quickly searches the face of the woman in the video using The Node and finds a picture and name that matches the person on the video. The picture is that of the head of Health Canada. His eyes turn into shock remembering everything the lady said. She is not crazy. She is panicking because someone wants her bad, really bad. The implications are enormous. Someone found a cure for cancer and they want to keep it out of the public's hand.

Cedric decides to also search for the man in the video and The Node returns the message 'no record was found.' He finds that odd. Cedric suddenly notices his camera blinking a bit, which causes him to frown. He quickly taps his keyboard to bring up his custom made firewall. It reports that a connection has been made to The Node from his camera. He is livid. There is an unauthorized transmission from his camera. He starts thinking about the possibility that his search for the Health Canada's ministry or that man in the video might have alerted someone. To be safe he thinks he should get out of his place and stay off The Node right now. He quickly makes a copy and hides it in his bedroom's secret wall. He then takes the pendant, e-mails his friends at the open source gateway that he has a world changing revelation on a memory chip and will be sending it following this message. He also notes that he thinks The Node is compromised and someone is monitoring his activity, so he asks them to quickly propagate the video. He quickly sends the message and starts uploading the video to his site. But his internet suddenly goes down. He curses and takes the pendant and starts running to his car. Most of his friend receive the message right away and are curious what kind of trouble Cedric has gotten himself into this time.

He quickly gets into Jake's car, takes out Bobby's scuba gear and backpacks from the trunk. He instinctively puts on the wet suit and throws the rest of the bag to the passenger seat. Cedric sets the car to auto drive and starts calling his brother Eldon. He gets the answering machine. "Eldon pick up please." He says frantically hoping his brother is there. But there is no answer. "Listen, I found a pendant implicating a top ranking government official from Canada. She is involved in a serious cover up. I hid the chip in your favourite childhood hiding place and I have the original memory chip pendant." His phone suddenly goes dead. The message display says "invalid account." Cedric quickly removes the cellphone parts on his watch and throws it out the window. He keeps his watch with a memory chip in it. The watch should not be able to connect to any network anymore. Meanwhile in New York's police precinct, Eldon has just got out of the gym shower and put his watch back when he sees a new message notification.

Police precincts in the U.S. and around the world suddenly get a notification of threat level one, an indication under the Motherland Defence Initiative that a clear and present danger exist. This usually involves shoot to kill orders against the threat. And Cedric's face comes up indicating his last position.

Cedric quickly disables the GPS on his car. But not satisfied with disabling it through software, he starts removing the wire that connects the car's control system to the small GPS unit near the floor of the car. He throws the unit out the window.

Military bases have been alerted and the president gives order to use the drone with Lucifer's Fork missile, the first time the new updated drone engages in combat on U.S. soil against its citizens. Back in the cyberwarfare control room of the conglomerate, Morris taps Luitger to acknowledge him for a job well done on cracking the police system in such a short time. Cedric's profile is inserted in place of the existing suspect deemed to be from the order of the three eleven. Cedric has been tagged as one of the leaders and the threat level was raised to 1. Although the police have never seen him before, the order from the president removes any doubts.

Back in New York's police precinct, Eldon gets back to his desk and is surprised to see a worldwide alert. He quickly pulls out the notice and sees his brother's face. "Is this some kind of a prank?!" He yells. He rushes out of his office so fast on his way to the police chief office that everyone turns to see what is going on but barely catches any of his shadow as he zooms by.

Cedric hears on the news that a manhunt is on the way. He pulls up the news and sees his face on it. He can hear sirens going off everywhere and one is close by, so he decides to turn into the back alley. Orders have been given to all the cars to stay off the road. Some are allowed to proceed to head home or work. But people who have not left their place yet have been told to stay put. In few minutes, cars on the road start thinning out until it almost looks like a ghost town.

Cedric accelerates to try to cross the Golden Gate bridge. He knows he is most vulnerable there especially with the road practically devoid of cars now. As he is speeding up to 200 mph he can see a drone approaching. He floors it but the drone is closing in very quickly. There is a red light blinking which signifies acquiring target. Cedric knows when it stops, it would mean the target is locked and the missile will fire. He also knows that the car cannot outrun the missile. He quickly reaches for and opens the bag on the passenger's seat. He takes out the flares that they brought with them for the trip. He sees the light blinking faster and faster, meaning it will be firing soon. He is almost at the Golden Gate bridge. He opens the sunroof and lights up the flares then puts on the brake when he sees the light on the drone stopped. He quickly puts the car on the speed reverse used for their reverse drag race. The flares fire off ahead of the car as the car reverses in direction at 250 mph. The Lucifer's missile fires off following the flares. Cedric swerve the car to the other lane from that of the approaching missile. The missile then hits the side rail of the bridge blowing a hole on the concrete road and vaporizing the steel. The drone keeps moving farther ahead and then starts to slow down. Cedric knows the person controlling the drone would probably disengage the auto heat seeking mode and engage several missiles right at him this time. He floors the pedal again as the drone approaches. The car is headed directly toward the drone. And as Cedric approaches the fiery mess left by the first missile, he switches on auto drive and points it toward the hole where the side rail steel used to be. He quickly grabs the bag with scuba diving gear and removes his seat belt. The car automatically slows down and turns and goes across the bridge as the missile comes toward the car. The car takes off and goes down the bridge starting its 200 feet descent into into the water. The missile hits the side railing of the bridge and explodes, vaporizing the steel and shaking the bridge, creating a much bigger hole on the road. Some of the debris from the bridge and missile has hit the back of the car and the trunk catches fire. There is a strong wind so Cedric hopes that will help slow the fall but not enough as to affect his ability to control the position of his fall. He quickly pushes the door open with the backpack containing the scuba gear in his hand. He jumps to the side, away from the car and down into the water. Cedric drops the bag into the water away from him and keeps himself in a vertical position to make sure his body is straight and feet first into the water with both arms raised. All of this is accomplished within a matter of seconds. The water feels cold so he quickly swims away, putting the oxygen on and diving deeper to avoid detection.

Cedric swims as far away as he can. The president gives orders to use Sonar Blast, which could have a debilitating or fatal effect on mammals. Beached whales showed injury to the brain following a previous blast. Helicopters can be heard overhead. Cedric swims up to near surface close to the shore, staying underwater and hears everything has quieted down. Sonar Blast was initiated. Cedric gets up to a marina, hiding behind a parked yacht. The sun has already set. He cautiously gets back on land. The sonar blast hits but not before Cedric gets out of the water.

He quickly dashes to a junkyard nearby and looks through several cars and finally finds a newly delivered car with the key still inside. There is no auto drive but it has a transponder and license plate still on. Cedric throws out the the transponder and starts driving.

Cedric continues to drive for more than 3 hours hiding in dark alleys or instantly parking and shutting down cars when a police car or helicopters pass by. He eventually reaches Lake Tahoe and decides to camp there for the night.

Cedric builds a campfire and decides to sleep and worry about what to do tomorrow. He wakes up to a pristine lake. He quickly packs up and brings his scuba gear to be refilled at a scuba gear outlet. Feeling hungry, he goes through the side door to a restaurant. While paying for his meal, he instinctively looks up at the camera, which looks like one of those new network security systems. He lowers his head and quickly takes a mountain board, helmet and hunting camouflage tarps and clothing, pays and leaves. But it is too late. The image has been sent to a security control centre, which automatically scans faces for any fugitives. The computer recognizes his face and alerts authorities.

Cedric quickly ditches his car and goes up one of the mountains that is used as a ski slope during the winter. He climbs as far as he can to get a better view of any approaching search party. There is a good breeze of wind. He decides to lighten the load discarding cooking utensils and covering them with cutoff part of the camouflage tarps and using rocks to keep it in place. He continues to climb until he reaches the top. He hears a helicopter approaching and tries to lay low, covering everything under the tarp and hoping it will do its job. Down the hill, the wind blows off the tarp, exposing the metal utensils. The helicopter quickly approaches and seeing no one there, drops its ladder and several men in black clothes with firearms start climbing down with the helicopter gunship pointing down in case there are any signs of the fugitive. Soon the commando unit reaches the abandoned utensils. They look up and point the helicopter to the top of the mountain. The helicopter quickly turns and Cedric peeking from the camouflage tarp wrap around him sees it. He quickly takes out several flares and lights one up, firing at the helicopter as it appears on the mountain peak. The helicopter pilot is totally caught off guard and over corrected. The gunman fires the mounted machine gun but ends up firing on the pilot as it makes a sudden turn. The flares miss, but the pilot was dead. And the helicopter drops like a rock and hits one of the mountains and explodes. Cedric knows he does not have much time before the commando catches up with him. So he puts on the mountain board and started going down using his experience from snowboarding in the ski slopes of Alberta. There is a steep side going down and he is able to ride it down with ease. He takes a spill at the end of the steep hill, but he manages to slow down first. He tumbles a bit but remains unhurt and picks up the mountain board and continues to slide downhill. By the time the commandos reach the top of the mountain, they can hardly see a moving tiny shape that blends in with the brown shrubs of the mountain. Cedric reaches the bottom and starts hiking in the woods. Cedric's intent is to get out of here alive, but he decides to record a message for Eldon on his watch just in case.

The commandos radioed in Cedric's position and the ground troops immediately get into action taking Cedric's used napkins and fork from the restaurant. They let the dogs sniff the stuff Cedric has used and set them loose.

Cedric hears dogs barking and decides to jump into the water with his scuba gear. The water is clear, especially near the shore. So he tries to stay as low as he can. As he approaches the shore, there are nice round white rocks that on a normal day he would stop to appreciate. But this is not a normal day. Peeking and seeing no one close by, he takes a chance and swims close to the shore. Then he hears dogs barking near the shore. He is already near the shore and the water is so clear that it won't be hard for them to see him even if he dives now. Luckily there are rocks that form into a tunnel under the water. He quickly dives and hides below one of these tunnel rock formations. He tries to relax and slow his breathing and use as little air as possible, conserving the supply in the oxygen tank. He rests nicely in a huge tunnel few feet down. Above this tunnel are several rocks formations protruding well above the surface that on happier days Cedric would have used to dive down to the clear lake.

Eldon arrives in San Francisco. He immediately goes to Cedric's house and finds the hidden wall partially open. It has come loose recently and only he and Cedric know how to pull and push to make it close properly. Eldon wonders if Cedric was in such a hurry that he did not bother closing it properly. Highly unlikely if you are trying to hide something you don't want others to find. He searches inside the wall and finds nothing. Eldon's heart sinks. He wonders how they know about the hidden wall. His phone rings and it is his precinct's police chief. No luck on getting them to call off the search since the president is directly involved. Eldon is yelling angrily into the phone. The chief tells him the latest about the sighting of Cedric. Eldon rushes out of the house and drives off to Lake Tahoe.

Cedric has been there for hours and decides to come out and see if the coast is clear. The sun has set and the shore is now dark. Nobody seems to be there so Cedric slowly moves into shore. As he slowly approaches a car parked up the shore, a spotlight comes on and several armed men appeared. He is about to raise his hand, but shots are fired, hitting him right in the left side of his chest. Cedric reacts by raising his hand to touch the wounded part. Then another shot is fired into his neck resulting in blood splurting out. "Cease fire!" the leader yells. He has not given the command to fire and though shoot-to-kill is now an option for this level of threat under the MDI, he does not deem it necessary. But two of his men have already fired. Cedric falls to the ground. One of the officers who shot Cedric approaches him and quickly pulls off the pendant from his neck as instructed by his contact earlier in the day. The leader of the group calls for paramedics. But it is too late. For one of the other officers who fired the shots, it is good riddance for someone who dares attack America. As far as he is concerned, it is a point for team U.S.A. and zero for the elusive order of three eleven.

Eldon's police siren blares all the way from San Francisco. But he arrives a bit too late. They are loading his brother's body by the time he arrives. He rushes to see the body and hopes it was someone else. Upon seeing it was his brother, he screams and cries "No! No! No!" He pushes the paramedics away. He hugs his brother shaking him, as if that would wake him up. The law enforcement officials learn that Eldon is a New York police officer. They wonder why a police officer would be so distraught over the death of one of America's top enemies. After an hour, they try to separate Eldon but he draws his gun and everyone backs off. Eldon tries to look for a pendant that Cedric had mentioned in his message but he can't find it. He takes his watch and hopes he can find some clues there. Eldon's boss has called the officer in charge on the scene and explained Eldon's connection and how there might be a mistake. The officer in charge is shocked. How could that be? The instructions were clear, the record was clear, the president was on the ball right away, so it must have been really urgent. He hopes the New York chief is mistaken. He has to be. It is just a brother unable to accept the fact that his brother took the wrong path in life and got mixed up with the wrong crowd. Only the paramedics and few police are left when Eldon finally let go, rising with his gun in his hand. He points at the police chief. The rest of the officers draw their guns. But the police chief asks them to drop their guns. Eldon with fire and tears in his eyes asks, "Who fired the shot?"

"We are going to look into it." The chief officer responds.

"Bullshit! Who fired the shots!?"

"They are no longer here. They are back at the precinct and they will be questioned I assure you."

"You did not answer my question. Who fired the shots?! I want names."

"I can't do that. You are welcome to come to the precinct with us and see them."

Eldon goes back beside his brother's body and says, "I will avenge your dead. Don't you worry."

Back at the precinct, Eldon sees the two police officers from behind a one way mirror. He wants to charge in but they will not let him. The chief officers convince him to let the law take its course and that the two are going nowhere.

Eldon is exhausted and decides to let it rest for now, seeing as they are being interrogated. He goes back to San Francisco to look after his brother's affairs and try to find that chip that his brother said would implicate Canada's Health Minister. On the drive back to San Francisco he feels so empty, like a part of him is gone forever. It feels like there is a big hole and emptiness. His heart aches as if there are salty tears flowing out, making it sting. The feeling is inexplicable, it drains all energy from him making him feels so helpless. His stomach churns, his whole body is in turmoil. Tears just flow out of his eyes uncontrollably like a broken faucet. He feels like he is going to lose his mind every time he thinks about his brothers smile. His stubborn and adventurous attitude. His fearlessness and compassion. Eldon would suddenly break out and scream every now and then, relieving pressure and frustration that have been building up. He then remembers Cedric's watch and takes the memory out and put it in his car's player. There is a recorded voice. So he plays it.

"Eldon, my brother. I hope you don't get this and that I will just end up deleting this once everything is back to normal. But if you get this, I just want you to know that if I should die, then go on and mourn for me and let it out. But don't remain sorrowful for long. I am not afraid of dying. These evil people's days will come. Everything is in the pendant. Take care of yourself and don't do anything harsh. Don't become corrupt in fighting them. Remember what I said when we were in Alberta? Although your memory might cause you sorrow to think that I have been taken so suddenly and in such an awful manner. But this is just a small blip on the wider scope of things. We will be victorious in the end. My spirit, or energy or whatever you want to call it, will live on. That, my brother, they won't be able to extinguish, ever!"

Eldon was not sure if that is supposed to comfort him, but it is not working, as he feel his heart continue to break. He was not aware that such sorrow, sadness and desperation were possible. It feels like it is going to tear him apart. He remembers telling his brothers not to get involved with what Cedric would call 'fighting injustices.' "It does not affect us," he once told his brother. "You can't take care of everybody in the world," he pleaded. But tonight, he does not blame his brother for standing up for his conviction. Eldon promises he will get to the bottom of things. No matter where the mastermind of his brother's death may be. He will get them whether they are in the U.S. or not.

### Chapter 16 – Lifting the Veil

_  
San_ _Francisco_

Lots of tears are shed at Cedric's funeral. Questions are raised about the heavy handed attack and killing of an American citizen. No one has heard about him being a suspect before. The presidential spokesperson says not all the suspects' name are published.

Cedric's friends agree to organize and try to solve the case together. They have obtained Cedric's unit from Eldon. They agree that they will carefully comb through the storage of the unit to see what is in there. They decide not to boot the unit in case it overwrites any part of the storage. Eldon joins them and offers them the password which fortunately his brother has told him the last time he came for a visit, when his own unit was broken.

"We have connected to the unit externally and decrypted the storage based on the password you gave us." Blake explained to Eldon. "But we have set it to read only so as not to inadvertently write over some sector of the storage."

"OK. I got it on my unit." Jake said. "To speed up the process, we made several image for each of us. We'll comb through the data using a hex editor. Basically we are trying to recover the data from any cache file, which would likely have been written to his storage temporarily while he was watching the video on his unit. From what we know, he did not do much on his unit after watching the video so chances are we can easily piece together chunks of that temporary video files."

Cedric's place has about 20 friends and friend's friend helping solve the puzzle. Eldon buys take out lunch to feed all of them.

_  
New_ _York_

Ray calls George, telling him about everything that has happened. From the electric car they suspect was sabotaged, to their childhood friend Eldon's brother being killed.

"What can I do to help?" George asks.

"I was hoping you can dig into your contacts and see what the FBI have about the electric car. And also how Cedric's profile got inserted to the wanted list."

"I think you are overestimating my influence." George starts laughing. But Ray remains quiet so George senses he is not in a joking mood. "Okay, I don't think any of my client have connections with FBI but I'll ask around. Shouldn't Eldon have more connections on police side to see who added Cedric's name to their database?"

"Eldon is off from work and they have asked him not to get involved in any investigation related to his brother. No surprise there really." Ray explains.

"Well, I will do my best, but I can't give any promises."

"I understand."

_  
Barcelona,_ _Spain_

The hacker world was buzzing with possible coverup of a backdoor exploit in the game 'Izaron's realm.' Cristobal manages to repost the original code of the game, the pre-patch version. This time he posts it to Usenet to prevent it from being shutdown and deleted. Whoever is responsible for the crackdown on their fellow hackers earlier was able to expunge all traces of Cristobal's original post. Even the cache normally present on The Node is non existent. Cristobal's new post comes with a warning about what occurred earlier and asks people to take precaution. Websites can easily be shut down by the government and sometimes disabled through denial of service attack (DDOS). Usenet messages automatically propagate and almost instantaneously copies are stored on servers around the world. It makes it tougher to delete all traces of a message. Usenet uses NNTP protocol just as the web uses HTTP. It is one of the original internet technologies developed for collaboration, sharing knowledge and for scientific research. Internet was also designed to be resilient and to allow access even in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. But there is increasing centralization of the internet especially for the World Wide Web, making it vulnerable for attack and total shutdown. Usenet is one of the oldest internet technologies and remains a promising technology with its decentralized format and structure ideal for discussion and posting files without setting up and maintaining a website. However its popularity has declined with the introduction of graphical interface on the World Wide Web (WWW). Discussion forum on the web also replicates the bulletin board functionality of Usenet. Cristobal has setup a newsgroup, a Usenet equivalent of a forum thread. He named it alt.discussion.hack4truth for messages and discussion. He also sets up alt.binaries.hack4truth for posting related files, codes and attachment.

Another mysterious message is posted on the newly created newsgroup. The poster's ID has an IP address from a cafe in San Francisco. It talks about Cedric's death and what is suspected to be a cracker breaking into the police database. The Node is also said to be compromised. Cristobal can see that the thread for that post is already growing very fast with lots of hackers getting in and pledging to turn their unit inside out to check for any malicious codes. Hackers start reverse engineering their unit's firmware and software. Codes in the unit used by The Node are also being checked, digital locks be damned.

_  
Conglomerate's_ _Underground_ _Base,_ _Paraguay_

The cyberwarfare room is increasingly concerned about the decentralized nature of the Usenet and its inability to control it. Orders were given to start uploading the patch that will enable the trigger code with instruction to wait for signal before activating. Computers around the world started getting 'critical security patch' warning, prompting all user to update immediately. For most users, they would not even see the message as the default settings on unit made by The Node is to update critical patch automatically.

_  
Algonquin_ _Park,_ _Canada_

Orad has gone back to the cottage Barb was staying in soon after she and her pursuer left. Orad remembers Barb saying something about the panic room behind a bookshelf. It did not take him long to find the door. Inside he finds Barb's unit and wonders about Barb's question when they first met at the dock. Barb asks if she can be followed if her cellphone is off. She did not seem to have any phone with her. Nor was she wearing one the night she ran away. But there is the unit. Orad's intends to check the unit and see if it is somehow compromised.

Orad opens the unit, making sure not to turn it on at this time. He removes the battery although it appears to be dead already. He starts looking through the circuits trying to identify what each one does. His interest in electronics has allowed him to create quite a few projects himself. He tries removing the ROM which stores the hardware instructions, also called firmware. The firmware used to be fixed and read-only, making the hardware pretty cracker-proof. However, firmware nowadays are update-able without a password and this sometimes enables cracker to insert malicious codes into the hardware's ROM or flash ROM. Orad starts decoding the instruction in the ROM.

Orad soon discovers instruction to connect to remote server. Since this is not included in the software, a software firewall won't catch this. It also appears like it would encrypt its traffic and only send out data during an update sequence. So a firewall would also not detect this as a threat nor would the user think it is suspicious since a connection is expected during update. It can also give instructions to block the internet. Orad finds that troubling. Orad posts his findings using the alias 'Satyagraha' (hold firmly to the truth – a word adapted by Gandhi for his non-violent struggle). Orad wonders if this is limited to Barb's unit or whether it is more widespread. The post soon appears on alt.discussion.hack4truth.

_  
Grand_ _Stone_ _Ridge_

George gets home after working the whole night and sleeping at his office. He puts his unit and keys down on his bedroom desk and takes a shower. After a few minutes, he thinks he hears a noise and turns off the shower. Hearing nothing, he turns the shower back on. He then hears a louder bang. He turns off the shower and put on the bathrobe. He slowly opens the door and sees Cole going down the stairs. "I did not know you are home. What was that noise all about?" George asks, rather annoyed.

"I was just closing my bedroom door." Cole says nonchalantly.

"Can you close it without banging it?"

"Anyway, I am heading out to a party at my friend's place," Cole says and heads out the door.

"Home for a few minutes and gone again. Oh Cole." George sighs and goes back to the shower.

_  
San_ _Francisco_

Eldon calls Nolan Hudson to help them out. Nolan agrees but says it has to be outside of his work. Nolan starts probing the node, not sure how much he can find without having access to their server where the code actually resides. Eldon wants to find out what Cedric meant when he said that The Node might be compromised.

Jake notices a new post on the newsgroup. Someone mentions an increased number of critical security patch updates and an overall increase volume of patch update for various apps. The poster wonders what this is all about and if anyone wants to check it out. Bobby decides to look into that. Did The Node find out about a flaw in their system and is it finally fixing it?

_  
Spheres_ _Inc._ _Headquarter_

Gracy is just finishing her work for the day when the phone rings. "So you did as I told you? Good, thanks Cole." She then hangs up. She smiles, thinking soon everything will come to a head. Thankfully she does not have to work too hard to convince Cole to work for her. She goes back to talk to Cole when she tells Ray she is going to the washroom back on the beach at Barcoloneta. She can see Cole likes her and she uses that to her advantage.

_  
Barcelona,_ _Spain_

Angelino sees Satyagraha's post and starts checking his own unit. He finds an extra chip that appears to be used for storing data. But the data seems to be encrypted. Meanwhile, Cristobal decides to look into all the critical updates. He gets copies of the updates and starts decoding the patch.

_  
Ray's_ _residence_

Ray is in contact with Eldon. He is talking to him when Gracy comes in. Ray waves his hand to say hi but they are pretty deep in conversation. He then looks at his unit and copies something into a memory chip. "Yes, I am sure George will be able to help with this one. I'll go see him now."

"What's up?" Gracy asks Ray.

"I think we might have a breakthrough. I have something that George might be able to help us decode easily. He was a pretty good hacker in his youth and Eldon and Cedric's friend have seen a partial chunk of the file that seems to have an image and video of someone. From what Cedric has said, a top government official in Canada is involved. The chunks of files should all be here. And if the person in the video is someone influential, George should be be able to identify him or her. I have not seen it myself, but I saved it on a memory chip for George to assemble."

Gracy's expression changes and she turns around to hide it. "I'll go with you," She says abruptly.

"Okay."

"Let me just grab my purse," Gracy says and heads into the bedroom. She looks behind to make sure Ray is not there and reaches her hands into under the tall dresser. She pulls out a tool tied to the bottom of the dresser and pulls it out. The device looks like a gun but seem to be more modern and have electronic parts in it. Gracy thinks, "I did not think I would need to use this but you threw me a curve ball Ray. Don't blame me." She puts the gun into her bag.

She comes out and says, "Tell you what, you go right ahead and I'll be right behind. Just need to touch up my makeup."

Ray smiles and shakes his head. "Women." Then he heads out the door.
Chapter 17 – Unpleasant Truth

_  
Grand_ _Stone_ _Ridge_

Ray arrives at George's place and is greeted by his childhood friend personally at the door. They immediately get down to business.

"Gracy should be joining us soon," Ray says.

"Oh? Then I'll leave the front door unlocked," George says and invites Ray into his office.

"Here is the chip."

George wastes no time and transmits the data into the unit at his desk. He stares at it for a moment then types some command. "It should not be hard," George explains, then continued working on the computer.

Ray sits there and wishes there were something he could do to help. He sees that George uses a keyboard pad to project the layout to. While a physical keyboard is no longer necessary, a keyboard pad similar to a mouse pad is used by people to provide more cushion on the surface that they type on. Some people prefer the retro look and buy the newly made but old technology keyboard, a physical spring keyboard.

"Help yourself to drinks or anything in the kitchen," George offers.

"I am OK for now."

A few more minutes and George stops typing. "I think I got it." They hear the front door open.

"That must be Gracy," Ray says.

"Doesn't she knock?" George asks, smiling.

"I am sorry she must be anxious to see what we have."

"And here it is." The wall behind Ray lights up. It is a video of a video conference between Barb and another person. George shuts the blind on his office to shut off the sunlight from blurring the images on the wall.

"Probably not what you are looking for. Let me forward it a bit." George says.

And Morris face appears. Gracy walks in and said hi. Ray responds and his focus returns to the wall. After the video ends. Everyone is quiet.

"That is quite a revelation. And they think it is worth taking someone's life for this? I am lost for words," Ray says and he turns to George.

"Do you know who that person is?"

George hesitates before saying, "It is Morris Stark. One of the most influential men in the world. You might not have seen him or heard of him, but he works for the conglomerate."

"There's our evidence. Call the police!" Ray exclaims.

"No Ray, you can't," Gracy speaks up.

"Why not?" Ray turns to Gracy with a puzzled look.

"Because he is our man." Gracy quickly raises her hand and fires a shot hitting his arm, and three shots into Ray's stomach. Blood flows out of Ray's stomach and he feels dizzy and falls to the floor. The first shot sounds hollow but the two shots that follows are loud.

George just stands there motionless, looking at Ray's motionless body in a pool of blood. Gracy turns her gun on him which changes his facial expression from a blank stare into disbelief. Gracy then drops her gun to her side and starts laughing.

"What the hell? You have the nerve to joke around. Did I not tell you to get rid of him as soon as he got anything on us?"

"Well, are you happy now?"

"No, I am not happy that you let him bring that video into my house. And you brought him here and killed him in my office! And you think I will be grateful?"

"No I did not think you will be grateful. Are you sad to lose your childhood friend?"

"No, anyone who stands in my way deserves to be got rid of permanently."

"Then you might want to get rid of me soon," Gracy says, raising her gun and firing at George. But it was not the same bullet and noise as when she fired at Ray. Only quick needles into several parts of George's body. A targeted anaesthesia to paralyze George's legs, hands and his vocal cords. It is remotely similar to local anaesthesia. George loses mobility in his arms and legs as well as his vocal cords and so he collapses into his chair.

Gracy quickly pulls in a trolley and puts Ray in it. She pushes him out and carries him to her car, which has driven itself to the front door just as she opens the door.

"Sorry I have to do this," Gracy apologizes as her car speeds away. Ray is still paralyzed but he can hear everything.

"George sent me to spy on you. He profiled you and knows the type of woman that you like. George thought I would do anything for money which is how he usually controls people. I played my part knowing it is a great opportunity to get the man's trust. I did not go to the FBI or the police since I know his influence spans worldwide. Who knew that I would have fallen in love with you at the same time." Gracy looks at her watch.

"George would have seen everything. Like you are able to hear me now. He won't hesitate to kill us now after what we found out. You have seen the real George. I did not think there is a need to shoot you to get it out of George but that have been my plan C. My plan A is to have his righteous son Cole put a bug on his unit. I talked him into it and told him about his dad's extracurricular activities. I know he would be outraged. Since George is very careful and always keeps his office locked, Cole had to find a right time to strike. And Cole found an opportunity today when George got home and seemed to be tired. Not expecting anyone home, he left his unit at his bedroom's desk. Cole got a few minutes to work on and almost got caught when he banged into a table in George's bedroom. I thought once all revelations unfold, you would be convinced that George is not who you think he is. He is not your nice childhood friend. I struggle to think of ways to convince you since you are full of praise for him. You are always so forgiving and tend to miss the dark side of man." Ray wants to move and scream but can't. Instead, he starts breathing fast as his chest rise up and down in quick succession.

"By the way, don't worry about all the blood. My first shot targeted your arm and is a form of anaesthetic to make you appear dead but able to hear everything. The other three are soft gel bullet that burst on impact spreading blood on your stomach. The electronics in the gun helps create sound of a real gun fire. If we are going to convince George, it has to be believable. Only then can I get him to talk frankly if he thinks you are already dead. Although if I have not arrived, he might have killed you himself."

Ray starts to come around. He slowly moves his arm and leg and then coughs out loud to test his voice. Ray does not know if he should yell and scream at Gracy. His breathing has not slowed down and he has a pained look. He looks at Gracy and does not know what to make of her. He decides to forgive her and just be glad that at least he still has her. A few minutes ago, he thought two of the person that he trusted the most had betrayed him. It turns out in a way, it is only one.

"I thought I was going to die from heart attack when I heard both of you betraying me." Ray says sombrely.

"I am sorry. I really am. You did not give me much time to come up with a better plan. I doubt you would have believed me if I just told you right there and then that George is an evil man and you should not go see him."

Ray feels as weak as if he had not eaten for weeks.

"I have to go back," Ray says.

"What?!" Gracy sounds surprised.

"I need to see him face to face and find out why he is doing this. This is our chance to play him also," Ray says, not exactly sure how he could play George. But he knows he has to clear things up and find out about the "why's?"

Gracy is afraid that Ray might insist on staying even after the fact about George is known. That is why she asks him to go ahead so that she can grab some items that might come in handy. She thinks dragging Ray out of there has taken care of that concern.

"I don't think you will ever rest if you don't go back to see George. Oh well." Gracy sighs and shakes her head then punches a command on the windshield display to drive the car back to George's place.

### Chapter 18 – Sympathy for the Devil

_  
Grand_ _Stone_ _Ridge_

As Ray walks into the room, George rises from his chair. They both pause like men about to engage in a shootout. Ray hesitates to use the gun Gracy gave him but George does not have such hesitation. He shoots a tube with a rubber handle that ejects invisible electricity toward Ray. Ray upon seeing that the button has been pressed, tries to dock but not far enough as the electricity catches him, making him collapse to the floor. Fortunately, the device is set to stun mode by default. It would have taken extra time to switch it to lethal mode. George pulls Ray up and sits him down on the chair. He then proceeds to tie Ray up in the chair using metal chains.

"I am glad you could join me my friend," George says.

George then proceeds to lock his office door. George goes behind his desk, sit down and turns the desk lamp on. It does not take Ray long to regain consciousness. Upon opening his eyes, he sees a dark room with only a desk lamp, which Ray thinks adds a demonic touch to George's face.

"So where is your lady friend?"

"She has more important business to attend to. On our way back she got a call that the hackers of the world are tearing down your pathetic attempt at world control."

George starts laughing like a devil. "You think you can stop us? Then I have a pleasant surprise for all of you."

George stands up and walks toward Ray. "You know what your problem is Ray. You are too trusting. You are too encumbered by compassion, love, empathy. Look at me. I don't give a damn."

George smiles crookedly with an evil eye as he presses his face close to Ray.

"I appreciate it that you dropped by. Why don't you join me in my crusade. We are of the Aryan descent. Our race is pure. Why do you have to waste your time caring for the wretched creatures of this world. They are retarded and should just have been killed while they were in their mother's womb. Why waste time caring for weaklings who are unable to overcome being abused. Look at us, we are doing pretty well. This is a world of survival of the fittest."

"You have a twisted perception of what is considered fit for this world," Ray retorts.

"Really? Let me show you something. Those mobs want a revolution in Saudi and won't yield to our chosen military ruler." George turns on the projector and turns Ray's chair to face the wall. The video shows violence breaking out. "Look at them, fighting and killing each other. Want to know the cause of that? Simple, I have our man at the Saudi police force dress in plain clothes. They started attacking Shiites and killing them yelling out insulting words for Shiites and praising Sunnis. Soon word spread that Sunnis attacked Shiites and fighting broke out. Do you see how easy it is to manipulate people to hate and kill? This is the world we are living in. Mobs of inferior races wanting a say in the government."

"As long as there exists hateful evil men like you in power conspiring to sow hate, then yes, the world will be full of hate."

George reacts with an incredulous and dismissive laugh. "Conspiring? I don't really have to conspire with anyone. Everyone is corruptible. You can corrupt them through wealth, power, ideologies. Promise them richness, make them feel like they belong to a powerful and influential circle, let them stake their position on left or right, thinking they are better than the other. All you need is to control a few men in power and the rest will follow. Even the man in power is not aware of our grander scheme. You think I have Eva Garcia because I believe in a Latina being a president. No, she and the black cardinal are just my tools to get support from the mob who likes to toil about morality. And my slaves like Eva Garcia and Kojo Thulani are happy to play the role, thinking they could become most powerful man and woman on the planet."

"What makes you so full of hate George? Is it the fact that you were abused? The fact that you were bullied? You always acted so strong but in fact you have all this pent up anger. You have lost compassion and any sense of conscience. You pretend you are strong but you are not."

"You!" George pointed at Ray. "You are lecturing me about being strong? Did you take care of any of your bullies? No!"

"Neither have you."

"Hahahahahaha," George laughs like a man about to go mad. "Actually I did. Remember Kayden?"

"Yes, what happened to him is beyond our control."

"Hahahahaha. Wrong again! I hated that brat so much I made sure he could no longer torment us. I killed him and cut off his thing to fit with how our abuser often threatened us. I just have to say a few things to make you and Eldon connect it to him. Without my testimony and your continued cowardice, our abusers would still be roaming the street."

Ray face turns pale.

"You are welcome," George says.

"How could you!?" Ray says, moving his body violently trying to get out of the metal chains that bind him.

"What?! I was able to kill two birds with one stone. I expect at least some sort of appreciation from you."

"Even the most vile beast is not as bad as you! What was your role in Eldon's brother's death?"

"Our cyberwarfare room told me about Cedric's cryptic phone call to Eldon before we interrupted his signal. He talked about Eldon's favorite hiding place when he was a kid. Do you remember when we were playing hide and seek at Eldon's place one time?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh," Ray yells so loud it echoes through the room as he violently swings back and forth trying to get out of the chair.

George sighs. "You are a lost cause. The German philospher had it right. We need a a superstate ruled by superhumans from the most evolved race that is ours. That's why I planned the Ordo Tribus XI to create a threat and put fear in people's heart. It was easy to find a few disgruntled Arabs and make them think they were doing it for their slain leader, Osama. After the attack, it was easy to pass the Motherland Defence Initiative to increase control of the internet and control the flow of information. The Patriot Act was merged into the MDI. We could then easily expunge anything or anyone that is not compatible or detrimental to our goal. I coaxed leaders to create a common currency that is traceable. Anyone who opposes us can be readily disposed of or we can make their lives difficult. Guys like Timothy McVeigh and Anders Breivik are the ones who should be hailed as heroes. It is a pity that Nazis continue to be prosecuted in Germany. Look at Japan, the Nazi counterpart there are still worshiped at the shrine by some of their enlightened politicians. And they call them war criminals when they should be hailed. Every now and then you have leaders who think they are righteous. Politicians like President Dean Davis and his son are the ones who need to be eliminated. They are traitors to our race."

"No! It is you who need to be eliminated!" Ray says staring at George.

"Good luck with that. By the way, we have successfully launched a hostile takeover against the company who holds the patent to the latest quantum computing. Our espionage effort revealed they have perfected the technology. Once we get the technology and keep it out of the public's hand and keep them unaware, we can break all encrypted files, encrypted traffic and passwords within minutes. Imagine what we can do. Just think Ray, if you join us there is nothing that we cannot achieve."

"Over my dead body."

"Really? You don't even have to worry about death from now on. Well, with regards to cancer at least. We have obtained the cure for cancer. But we plan to use it for a new spiritual movement. Aeon, the New Era Spiritual Union!" George says, waving his hand, touching an imaginary sign in front of him. "We can get a lot of followers if we start curing people from cancer. A miracle." George grins with both palms out as in prayer. "We can use amazing new technologies that are not publicly known to create fake miracles to get people to worship us."

"I would normally say it is never too late to get some help but I am not sure that applies to you."

George picks out an old binder from his bookshelf. "Here is one of my priced collection. A binder with accounts of a meeting between the Germans around the time of the signing of the treaty to end World War I. It was hosted by a General Erich Hintze. This is the book that led to my enlightenment. Everything makes sense after this. And it gave me the idea to use November 11 2011 and the Ordo Tribux XI."

Ray's stomach churns, unable to grasp the magnitude of George's crimes and how someone could be this evil and crazy.

"I tried to make you see the light Ray. We could have used your talent. You see, we have a big experiment on genes and eugenics, more advance than what World War II's Germany was able to accomplish. We had embarked on this eugenics experiment in order to clean our planet of inferior humans and races. We did an experiment in South Africa recently through my firm World Food Inc. It is still a challenge to narrow down DNA for a specific race. It is proving harder that I thought. There are no race genes. I had to stop our experiment when the toxins started to affect our own race."

"That's because we all belong to the same species. We might have different traits, but we are all of the same species. But you are obviously of a different kind never before seen on earth. Maybe there are likes of you in hell."

"Hell, heaven, morality are all for the feeble minded. They should all be cleansed. I think Alberta, Canada should not have abolished their eugenics act of mid 1900s. Our world would have been a better place."

"Bastard! Tell that to the abused child who was deemed a moron after scoring less than 70 on an IQ test and subjected to eugenics. In her adult years she got an IQ score of 89 but her sterilization was already permanent. That is what happens when demented minds like you gain power."

"I love to see such anger in you. Don't you feel disgusted looking at those races infested with criminals. Those lower races who are stuck in eternal poverty? They are inherently weaker."

"Maybe they are stuck in poverty because you and your greedy friends continue to plunder their resources for your own profit. You stuck them with corrupt and atrocious politicians who would do your bidding. You enslaved them and discriminated against them and you wonder why they are generally poorer? I can see logic is not your best suit. Or as Professor Roy Merritt has written in his book, you have a binary logic. The world is just black and white for you. Greed and hate blinds you from the sufferings of the world."

George's office phone starts ringing. He answers on speaker phone. "Chief, check the internet. Someone has posted all your personal logs online!" A voice who sounds like Morris says frantically.

With a panicked look, George goes to his computer and sees all of his personal logs are displayed online in Usenet. He likes to keep tab of everyone to use as blackmail if they should choose to turn their back on him. But he would have never thought that would end up online for everyone to see.

"How?" Then he remembers that he recently left his unit on the bedroom desk thinking he would be out of shower right away. "Cole!" he yells. George's face looks like he wants to kill someone and he would surely kill his own son without hesitation. "Prepare to activate the kill switch!" George yells the command to Morris. "I will see you soon. Get my jet ready" George then disconnects. George just sits there staring at the windows blinds.

"You know George. I always believed that people's behaviour is affected by their experience in life. I have sympathy for people who are sensitive and easy to resent because they have been bullied. People who are depressed and irritated because they have had one too many traumatic experiences. People who fidget and twitch because unfortunate circumstances might have made them that way. People who are called dorks or are sometimes obnoxious and grouchy because something might be bothering them. People who gossip, are stuck-up, put people down, off-putting, overbearing, or quick to lay blame on others because some untoward incidents might have led them to have a chronic feeling of inadequacy. People who are quick to jump to conclusions and falsely accuse others, for injustice done to them might have caused them to be sceptical and cynical."

George sits there expressionless.

"I have sympathy for people who are quarrelsome and short tempered for they might have more than their fair share of trying times. People who are called retarded for they are born that way and although they might look and act differently, their hearts are often purer than people who are considered normal."

George stands up.

"But for murderers like you and your greediness and hatred that cost lives, I can't find an ounce of sympathy because you have committed countless heinous crimes that no one with a hint of humanity left in them is capable of doing. You are insidious and a heartless wretched creature. You talk about rightful power and superiority but you are neither powerful nor superior. Your mind is so inferior that you fail to recognize your stupidity and the abyss that is waiting just few steps ahead of you. That is your rightful home for eternity."

"I don't need your sympathy. But you are going to need one soon as this house is set to auto destruct. For the remaining seconds of your life I want you to witness the world going down." George then turns on screen that is cycling through mosaic of various cameras around the world. Above it is a countdown timer. George then proceeds to open the blinds on the window. Sunlight pours in through a window that is surrounded by thick steel.

Suddenly George starts to react like he is being bitten by an invisible insect. There is a sound of a thud as George holds on to his neck. Then another one as he quickly holds his cheek. Then onto his rear and the back of his foot. Then the other side of his cheek with his body moving like he just been slapped. Soon a figure appears and it is Gracy as if she is an apparition slowly appearing with a paddle in her hand. George presses on his watch and something falls from the ceiling followed by a loud bang. Smoke fills the room. Ray feels his chair being bumped as someone runs out of the room. Ray hears the door close and the lock being engaged. It takes a few minutes before the room clears up and Ray can see Gracy getting up.

"We have to get out of here quick," Gracy states the obvious. She quickly takes out a pipe. It is a pulse laser cutter with safety feature. It fires in succeeding pulses and checks the targeted surface before each millisecond pulse to make sure it is steel and not human flesh. Gracy points at Ray's chains and it starts cutting one chain per 3 seconds. Gracy slows down at the last chain just to be safe. She quickly removes the chains. The countdown displays reads 5 seconds. Gracy throws a backpack at Ray and he quickly rummages through it. The countdown goes from 3 to 2 then the whole house blows up.

It continue to burn without sign of Ray and Gracy. A few more minutes pass before a dark figure emerges from the fire. The figure is covered in dark cloth with fire burning. As it moves away from the house engulfed in flames, the fire on the dark clothes starts to disperse like it is afraid of the cloth. Then the dark cloth comes off revealing Ray and Gracy inside. Ray has an injury and some blood on his feet and arm. The fire repelling cloth saved both of them. Ray has to cover Gracy from the force of the explosion and both of them dock down and as close to the thick office wall as possible. This has saved both their lives.

Gracy calls up her car and they both hop in.

"Hope I did not take too long. You told me not to come out until you said so and you never asked me to. But when the windows opened and lights poured in, I knew I only had a few seconds left before my invisible shield would reveal me." Gracy says.

"I can't believe it works. The fact that his office was dark helped I guess. But it is far better than when you first showed it to me during our tour of your company's plant in Buffalo. George did not know what hit him." Ray and Gracy start laughing. They still have so many things ahead of them. But they allow themselves some laughter after what has been a taxing day.

"I still have a hard time believing that is the real George. I can't believe how easily a man like him can manipulate people in government through greed and power. What if there are more people who conspire to plunder the world for their own gain and advance their twisted agenda?" Ray asks.

"There is no need to fret about a possible conspiracy, it is just wasted energy. We should instead focus our energy on fighting injustices and attempt to water down the century old safeguard of a free society, such as respect for civil liberties and privacy. As long as we continue to work toward more openness and increase people's input in the government, then it will be harder for anyone with malicious intent to infiltrate our government and divide people into hateful acts. People have to learn not to get manipulated so easily. Wars are often started using false pretense to rile up people into hateful rage."

"Indeed. And they could kill people who stand up against them but they cannot possibly kill all conscientious and good people in this world. These vile creatures can victimize an unsuspecting and trusting people for a short time, but the moment they start their evil act, their days are numbered."
Chapter 19 – The Lair

Paraguay

George jets to Paraguay, landing on a dirt strip. People checking The Node map would only see a huge dirt expanse. Morris is there to greet him. George is quickly ushered into his office/throne.

"Operation 'Kill Switch' has begun." Morris proclaims.

A screen appears, showing different views of the world, and George starts selecting the screens to view them.

At one hospital the insulin pump starts to inject more than prescribed for the patients. The networked defibrillator that allows physician to monitor their patients' conditions and deliver life saving electric pulses when needed suddenly starts going off, delivering electric shocks to the heart of the patients.

Around the world, systems at control towers of the airports are going down. Computers on the planes start rebooting causing a lot of the planes to descend rapidly as the pilots struggle to regain control.

Bank machines also start spewing cash out causing people to rush and grab it. Bank security is overwhelmed.

System that manages inventory, and delivery for stores, crashes. With the supply chain and inventory now managed very tightly to save cost, the supermarkets and grocery stores shelves will be empty in a day or two.

Boats in the sea and cars guided by GPS start to go off course leaving sailors and drivers lost.

Power starts to go down starting from Manitoba Hydro. Their networked system has been compromised and their turbine starts to spin out of control causing an explosion in the hydro power plant. There are leaks reported in some hydro plants and evacuation on various towns are initiated.

There are reports of protests breaking out in Spain following revelations about their political leader's connection to the conglomerate. Morris decides to fly to Spain on their private plane into the conglomerate's private airport to personally take care of the growing protest.

_  
Hackers_ _around_ _the_ _world_

The hackers who have been working without sleep for days come up with a fix and identify the offending apps. Everyone is advised to stop using The Node, and tablets manufactured by them, and to turn them off. People are asked to download the fix to counter the malicious patches sent out by The Node recently. All hackers struggle to spread the fix on time as power and system start to go down across the world. They then start hacking into all accessible computers to push the fix in. It seems like a futile effort but they push through. Power plants start disconnecting their networks. Some have become so reliant on network control that they end up shutting down.

The hackers efforts do not seem to be making any dent against the looming disaster but they persevere. Hours later when all hope seems to be out of reach, they started to get reports that things are stabilizing and no new cases of breach have been reported. The fix is designed like a virus but instead of breaking a system it fixes them. It starts to spread quickly like a swarm of lady bugs chasing away the swarm of aphids eradicating them. It stops the attack on its track.

Pentagon

Officers listed in George's log are all removed from power. An emergency command has been established. The new commander-in-chief is Nick Sherwood of Veteran Affairs, 17th in line of succession from the president. He is the only one not named in George's log. The rest of the 16 in line from Eva Garcia down are named.

Gracy contacts President Nick Sherwood and tells him about a way to trace George's whereabouts. Gracy is invited to the Pentagon where a meeting is being held.

"I hit George in several spots injecting nano GPS into his body. I tracked where he went and the last I have is he landed in a dirt road at Paraguay." Gracy points to a world map on a large table. The map immediately zooms in showing nothing but a dirt strip of land.

"I suspect they have their bases built underground. I have something we can use to map out their underground base. I need your plane." Gracy explains.

_  
The_ _Conglomerate's_ _Headquarter,_ _Paraguay_

George is screaming mad as he leaves and shuts the door in their cyberwarfare control centre. Their operation has been halted with most system having been fixed and making them unable to push any new patches through.

Above ground and in the sky over the conglomerate's base several planes fly by dropping a missile that injects itself to several spots in the ground like several pins stuck into a cloth. Then several big cargo planes arrive dropping what looks like a bomb with flat surfaces. Above them is a plane loaded with computers and connected to the radio in the missiles embedded into the ground. As the huge flat bomb hits the ground, it shakes the ground creating a seismic wave. The seismic wave travels underground and is captured by the missiles that are now acting like a probe. It is then transmitted to the plane loaded with computers. Processing of the underground image begins. A 3D image of the underground base is created.

Everyone in the underground base feels the vibration. It is like an earthquake has hit them.

Then another plane arrives. This one is a drone flying low with thermal imaging cameras recording the warm areas which are potential power sources for the underground base. The results are also transmitted to the plane high above the sky. The images from seismic wave and thermal imaging are then transmitted to the satellite and back to Pentagon.

Within minutes, commands are issued to hit the base. Planes arrive carrying precision bunk buster bombs dropping them on several selected spots of the base. It creates several holes. Immediately following them are Non-Nuclear Electromagnetic bombs. The power goes out in the underground base and battery powered emergency flash lights came on. But the electronic equipment is fried.

In the underground base, George is shaken as a big hole was created down the hall from his table followed by a loud bang as another bomb came down causing all the power to go out. In the cyberwarfare room, Helmut and Luitger are stunned while all the crews run out in panic. A hole has also been made here and an EM bomb landed directly on their wall screen. Suddenly a capsule lands and Helmut and Luitger dock, not knowing if it will be an explosive bomb this time. But the capsule lands with a thud and a man in a formal marine uniform with a disfigured face comes out. Talon Gladwell has read George's log on the internet and knows that Bolivia's attack was premeditated by men at this base. He is here to thank them for giving him the permanent disfigurement in his face. Helmut quickly draws his gun but by the time his gun is levelled a spinning blade hits his hand and he drops the gun. Luitger attempts the same thing and suffers the same fate. Helmut jumps over one of the panels grabbing a steel bar off one of the railing. He charges toward the marine. The marine raises his arm which has a metal shield and blocks off the metal bar. Talon quickly swings his arm outward causing Helmut to lose his balance. Luitger pulls off another metal bar and flies toward Talon but the marine quickly jumps to the side causing Luitger to fall to the ground. Helmut charges back again with another swing at the marine who promptly jumps over Helmut. Luitger then tries to strike Talon's body but hits his arm with the steel brace. Both Helmut and Luitger immediately hit back at Talon who promptly blocks both the bars on each side. He pushes both of them away causing them to stagger back few steps. Talon then quickly climbs the wall.

Gracy provides him with what she says are new shoes with nanopores that are able to hold onto any surface, allowing the wearer to climb like a wall lizard or spider. He continues climbing to the astonishment of both Helmut and Luitger who just watch him with mouths wide open. Helmut then rushes to pick up the gun. Talon at the roof top quickly releases his foot and tumbles down, landing at the back of Helmut, hitting his hand and catching the gun as it falls. Luitger comes attacking from the back but Talon swerves to the side while Helmut turns around to face Talon but ends up getting Luitger's bar in his face. Talon then jumps and kicks both Helmut and Luitger at the same time. Both fall to the ground and almost losing consciousness. Talon then ties both of them together and says, "You don't mess with the U.S. marines. We are not pawn for your corrupt and hateful wars!"

Above ground, all of George's private armies assemble to thwart off any invaders. Several drones fly by and the armies respond by shooting into the air. Some drones are hit but still manage to deliver their load. The bombs dropped by the drones create bolts of electricity all around causing everyone in the vicinity to lose consciousness. Then several helicopters arrive with each having a dangling object that looks like a big projection camera or small cannon. Each has a square metal casing behind it. Each of these land on the ground and the rope is severed. The camera/cannon surrounds the vicinity. The square casing contains a portable nuclear reactor. Although George's bought up the patent, Gracy was able to grab a blue print from the former owner. The casing is sealed and each unit has a GPS. Any attempt at tampering would result in the signal being sent and its GPS location reported. The casing is a specially constructed light weight metal with boron nanotubes that effectively shield the radiation and stores the energy inside. The portable nuclear device is perfect for the new force field technology that her company have developed. Each projector unit requires a lot of power.

All units are in position and powered up. Each contains an advanced supernanocapacitor. The advanced supernanocapacitors are provided by Oleg Oborski and are also used in his Zeus 1 electric car. The projector consists of a rotating unit inside and a high atomic number metal such as lead. It creates a force field by controlling electrically charged atoms. But it is unlike those depicted in science fiction where there is a visible shield. It is almost invisible but can be quickly felt by anyone trying to pass through or throw an object at it. The projectors have been started and the field overlaps between the different units. As the armies regain consciousness they find themselves surrounded by projectors. One army starts firing only to realize the bullets bounced back hitting one of his own man. He stops firing. A loud speaker instructs them to lay down their arms and no one will be harmed. Most of the soldiers are shock at what had just happened and quickly comply by laying down their arms They are told to leave their arms at the back and lined up to be processed and taken out of here. They are asked to remove their uniforms and only have shirts and underwear to make sure they have no hidden weapons. The processing is done very quickly and soon a parade of buses take the whole armies out of the area.

George continues to tap on his tablet and is unable to comprehend how their plans could have failed. All of a sudden something starts coming down from the hole in the ceiling. He sees that it is Ray floating down with some sort of rocket propelled unit with round metal frame around him. There is a small metal ball inside the circular frame above Ray.

George has a look of surprise. "So you really want to die so badly you still come back after escaping the explosion at my house?"

"I am just here to take you in." Ray says.

George starts laughing. "You? Boy you must have hit your head hard when you were a kid. You want to take me in with your metal ball?"

"Actually, this is a personal size nuclear power even smaller than the portable one."

"Don't I own the patent for that? I'll make sure that you are jailed and penalized under the patent law."

"If you don't use it, you lose it."

George then draws a knife out and throws it at Ray but it just hits an invisible wall causing a few sparks before falling to the ground.

"Gracy sends her regards with this shield. She calls it the Payback Shield."

George takes out a pipe like instrument bigger than the one he used to shoot at Ray in his office. George presses the button but nothing comes out. Realizing it has been fried by the EM bomb, he grabs his next weapon. A gun.

"No!" Ray yelled.

George smiles, thinking he has found the weakness of the shield. He fires several shots successively. Ray closes his eyes knowing what will follow next. The processor immediately gives instruction to generate a repelling force that will not only block the bullet but also push the bullet back to the origin. The unit's power goes up draining all of the power from the personal size nuclear power unit. Most of the bullets quickly head back towards George so fast that he did not have a chance to react. One of the bullets embeds itself into George's heart. George falls to the ground, killed by his own bullet.

_  
Somewhere_ _in_ _Paraguay_

The two Walters brothers are away from the underground base when the attack happened. The two brothers John and Martin are being groomed by George as his successor. Unlike Cole, the two brothers know about the underground base and have visited the site quite often. George thinks Cole is too temperamental to be trusted with such a secret. "And he was right," John says.

"That traitor who stabbed his own father in the back will have to pay." Martin says.

The two brothers board a private jet on their way to the Cayman islands. "With all our money hidden in Cayman and Swiss bank, we should be able to advance our father's goal." John says.

"Since protests are breaking out across the world because of the revelation, we should consider playing the other side of the court." Martin said.

"How?"

"Create strife somewhere and have our chosen leader come in as the saviour. We might even be able to get the people behind us. We can start our own people power revolution."

"Nothing is impossible. But let's get out of here for now and plan our next move in our Cayman's hideout."
Chapter 20 – The Awakening

Spain

Protests are growing around Spain. Morris already talked to their police chief. "Fortunately, George has never met you or you would be on his stupid log also," Morris tells the police chief. Morris convinced the police chief to send agents in plain clothes to disrupt the protests.

"A peaceful and extended protest is not good. It might lead to swelling of public support. But if we can inject violence into it, we can dismiss them as extremists and violent thugs, deserving a heavy handed crackdown."

Within minutes, violence breaks out at the same time at various protest sites in Spain. Some people get bullet wounds, some have knife wounds. Riots breaks out and fires start burning in various business establishments. The protesters quickly organize to police themselves. They also help put out the fire before it spreads. While the initial influx of violence catches them off guard, the next attempt fails as the people quickly accost anyone seen yielding weapons. Some suffer injuries in their attempts but further violence ceases. Groups starts to march to Nueva Visión del Siglo, which is broadcasting claims that the protesters are rioters almost in cue with the breakout of violence. Some march toward the police chief station.

Morris Stark is back in his condominium. His initial smile at the breakout of violence is replaced with concerns when Nueva Visión del Siglo go off the air and protesters take over. "Nueva Visión del Siglo, the puppet of the conglomerate is no more," says one youth who has taken over the anchor chair. The camera men decide to just let it roll and it becomes a live celebration on air.

Morris decides he has to get out of the country quickly. He can hear police sirens going off in the street. The power suddenly goes out in his condo. But the fridge seems to be still ON and making some noise. He tries to disconnect the fridge from the network but the program and display won't respond. The thermostats are also obviously still working as it starts to get warmer and warmer inside. He runs to open the door but it is locked tight. He enters his password but it says "invalid code." Due to his paranoia, he reinforces his door with heavy steel. So there is no chance that he could kick it open. He tries to make a phone call but there is no signal. He tries the internet but there is no connection also. He starts sweating, not sure whether it is the heat from the thermostat being set so high or from nervousness. He tries adjusting the thermostat and turning it OFF, with no effect. Suddenly the coffee maker turns on and there is a loud bang on the fridge as it breaks down and turns off. His computer suddenly turns on and displays video of the celebration at Nueva Visión del Siglo. The speaker in his house suddenly turns on to maximum volume with loud music blaring. Morris tries to open his balcony door but that too is electronically controlled and part of his networked security. The door locks have somehow been overridden to the locked position. He tries to cover his ears from the loud music. Morris then grabs onto his wooden desk and throws it out the window. The window breaks and he breathes a sigh of relief.

The music suddenly stops and he hears the door locks open. He quickly grabs a gun as the door opens. He tries to raise his gun but is quickly shot in the wrist causing him to scream in pain and drop the gun involuntarily. Eldon is the first one in, followed by other Spanish police and Interpol's officers. Eldon quickly grabs Morris and throws him to the couch. He wants to punch him but manages to control himself. Instead he turns Morris around with such a force that Morris's nose hit the couch as he is handcuffed very tightly. "You have the right to remain silent Mr. Caliphate." Morris is shocked to be called by that name. His record and trace as that person should have been totally erased.

Morris is led out by the Spanish police. "Your friend is waiting for you in the jail. He has transferred from his desk as the police chief to accompany you," says one Spanish police officer.

The thermostat suddenly returns to normal. The computer and the coffee maker turn off. Eldon smiles knowing exactly who was in control of Morris Condominium.

_  
Saudi_ _Arabia_

The people continue their protests and all top military officials connected to the conglomerate lose credibility. An election is finally planned. In their victory party Jabaar was one of the speaker.

"Today we reject corruption, intimidation, hatred and murder. If your leader, be it political or religious, ask you to hate because a person is of different race, nationality, religion, or background, then say no to them and show them the door out. Because we the citizens of the world will no longer tolerate corruption, hatred and murder!"

Loud cheers break out.

U.K.

Protests are also held in U.K., with their prime minister and main media being mentioned in George's log. The replacement government repeals the Motherland Defence Initiative as well as their Digital Economy Bill, an MDI-ish law that was rushed through long time ago without public consultation.

_  
France_ _and_ _Germany_

French and German officials' involvement with George's IMF plan has led to outrage and their quick dismissal. The French president was also implicated in George's log.

_  
Barcelona,_ _Spain_

Angelino takes the stage in one of the rallies and declares:

"Let no hatred and manufactured strife divide us. We will be strong and invincible if we stand united. We will vanish hate and corruption. We will silence all voices and provocations that cause us to hate and fight each other. For humans around the world working collectively, conscientiously and humanely will be the most potent weapon the world have ever seen. We will neutralize any tyranny, corruption and injustices that are the source of marginalization, and the deaths of large number of people resulting from war and poverty. Even if the good die young, the good will always outnumber the bad. If the good stays silent, wickedness and injustices will prevail."

Philippines

The people gather to overthrow their president who is George's business partner in the Philippines. They start to organize voters' education to fight against the chronic problem of vote buying and political assassination. A proposal has been submitted to create an international tribunal similar to war crimes court but it will be for perpetrators of political assassinations and for corrupt judges and officials. That effort culminates in the creation of the Global Council of Equals, a replacement for the United Nations. Its mandate includes prosecuting corrupt politicians and judges that cannot be brought to justice in their own country due to control by their cronies. Perpetrators of politically motivated killing are also tried in new international tribunal. The council works closely with Interpol to pursue politicians and executives who ran away with ill gotten wealth to tax haven countries. They are hot on the tails of George's hidden wealth and manage to sequester some in Cayman and Swiss banks after a vigorous effort of combing through the web of banking secrecy.

All members in the Global Council of Equals have pledged at a minimum good governance and open government along with other anti-corruption measures; a non-politicized and uncorrupted justice system; respect for civil liberties and privacy; a fair election system; and a transparent and grass roots representation with a good voter education system. All members, who have met all the basic requirements got equal shares of votes in the council.

_  
Various_ _Asian,_ _Middle_ _Eastern_ _and_ _European_ _Countries_

Protests break out against politicians identified to have collaborated with George. Long brewing anger against known corrupt officials and executives result in their overthrow.

_  
South_ _America_

South America, quite a few times a victim of external aggression and corruption themself, rises up in solidarity with the world. Politicians that are corrupt even if they are not on George's log are also overthrown.

U.S.A.

People are organizing into groups and panels to discuss how to improve their government to prevent further corruption. A melding of the minds. Open government becomes a central pillar.

"An open government that is sincere and not evanized," one speaker proclaims boldly.

Reeling from the charade of partisanship from an equally corrupt parties, a group of citizens start organizing for a new party and gathering signatures and grassroots donations.

"What are we going to call our party?"

"Any party name would be better than the current ones. Those parties calling themselves Liberals but are not Liberals. Conservatives that are not Conservatives. Democrats and Republicans by name only."

The group then decides on the name The Non-Partisan Collective with the mantra to collaborate and inform. If they win, they will rule by consensus and not by causing hate and division. They will harness the power and ideas of the people or experts.

"More emphasis should be put on planning for the long term rather than impulsive decisions, especially under duress, anger, fear, hate and corruption. Open government, transparency, clearly defined and disclosed conflict of interest shall become the norm," says one participant.

"We need to move away from government that is personality driven and leader-centric to more grassroots consultation. A leader leads and acts as a moderator but does not dictate. Representatives should be held accountable for leaving voters uninformed or for misleading them. Each representative votes and make decisions on behalf of their constituents. But the authority is given by proxy only and any voter can take away the proxy to vote for themselves anytime, especially on specific bills that are personally important to them. These measures are necessary because it is not a real government of the people, by the people, for the people if you have no way of making them accountable in between election. Waiting for next election will be too late. The damage would have already been done. These votes on individual bills can be made online in a non-anonymous and verifiable manner. Anyone that engages in intimidation and harassing of a voter for the way they vote will have their voting rights taken away plus any applicable criminal laws. Representing the people is not an entitlement but an obligation." one speaker suggests.

One citizen offers his opinion. "Government needs to become inherently transparent. Accountable to their boss—the people. One way to increase efficiency in government and bureaucrats is to make it less centralized. Move to less of a controlling leader type of governance to more open and collaborative model where bureaucrats comprise a greater number of people that are well trained and informed. More distributed decision making and a wider base of knowledgeable and trained people who can act as decision makers. A more centralized structure results in more bureaucratic inefficiency. A more top down approach equals fewer decision makers, hence bottlenecks, red tapes, delay and increased costs. For government to sell off the public's asset, a mandatory non-whitewash open public consultation process should be held before a vote take place. This would prevent a lobbyist from corrupting the government into selling off their assets cheaply. All agencies and bureaucrats are subjected to regular audits with all records available for free to the public without needing to pay for information access request."

A middle aged woman stands up to speak. "All decisions made should be justified and documented and also made available for public scrutiny without delay. Reduce the federal level juggernaut and give more resources to lower level government like provincial and municipal level, who are able to more readily recognize local needs. While federal government can continue to look after wider interest issues and items that would benefit from economies of scale. But political partisanship should be eliminated."

Another speaker stands up. "I agree, and they should increase productivity of the worker, not by squeezing all the energy out of them and throwing two to three person jobs into one. Instead a working environment should be created where the workers are paid a decent wage, not a minimum wage that is below the poverty line. Let's foster a worker base that is enthusiastic about their organization. Happy workers are productive workers. And for crying out loud, keep political appointees out of our agencies to stop the constant re-organization leading to inefficiency! We need a solid base for our agencies to be free from constant political interference and changing ideology."

A retiree decides to contribute. "Pension and employment insurance are people's money. No politician should dig their hands in there and use them to fund their deficit. Investments for those funds should at a minimum cover for inflation, guaranteed! Unnecessarily putting money in risky investments should result in money managers being fired and disqualified from positions of public trust. Billion dollar losses due to negligence should result in heavy penalties and jail terms, whether corruption is proven or not. This will prevent plausible deniability and mock innocence from corrupt money managers."

Roy Merritt is chosen to head crowd-sourcing and gather economists who have no previous connection to fraudulent acts. They are organizing to discuss and brainstorm about new progressive, sustainable and innovative economic model.

"There should be a law against the creation of artificial scarcity, hoarding and cartel on supplies to drive up price," says one speaker.

Another person rises and says, "Exponential consumerism and loan is not the be all and end all of economy. Savings for a rainy day should not lead one to be accused of not contributing to the economy nor are they 'job killers.' We cannot be too obsessed with continued exponential growth on corporations' profits through enticing consumers to take up more loan and consume more than they can afford. Or exponential depletion of our limited natural resource. When the federal chairman himself is calling for Free Market and is misleading people to take up loans they won't be able to repay, then we have a problem. That is what happens when the government ends up serving only their campaign contributor than the general public it is supposed to serve."

"Speaking of campaign contributions. Extravagant campaigning should be abolished. Abolish campaign contributions altogether. A certain budget goes to supporting democratic election. The public can also contribute to that fund instead of individual parties. Even laws that allow contributions by individuals only are easily overcome by wealthy entities and are impossible to enforce. Maybe we should consider an equal time ad space paid for with public funds. Transportation to various campaign destinations also through strict standards and reasonable costs also shouldered by public funds. The amount of funding depends on percentage of membership relative to other parties. So a citizen can contribute to the Support Democratic Election Fund then sign up as a member for his favoured party for the upcoming election. This would help his favoured party get more funding. This is just an off-the-cuff idea just to get the debate going on stopping exponential growth in campaign spending. Because if an election win is dependent on who has the most money, then the general public interest has already been sidelined even before the election is done."

Another participant suggests, "Essential services should be managed by a non-political, non-profit and open public co-operative whose books are open for anyone to scrutinize. Profit beyond the margin for rainy days fund are to be refunded to rate payers if applicable. Essential services that would receive public funding and managed under such organization would include water, and utilities such as electricity. Communications that are owned privately will have a cap on allowable percentage of profit to ensure they remain equally affordable for everyone regardless of social and economic stature. With internet data now able to travel at light speed in the fibre optic's internet backbone, and matching technology able to process that data at about the same speed, it is abominable to throttle speed and put artificial caps on bandwidth usage. This would also violate the new anti-artificial scarcity law that the previous speaker has proposed. A new research and education institute for researching cures and new innovation should be established, which could be funded jointly by public funds and independent fund raising. This will create a foundation to help create a sustainable and progressive future."

Someone volunteers to express his opinion and says, "White-collar crime involving millions and billions of dollar from neglect and fraud should receive penalties equivalent to number of lives affected and lost. Politicians who protect and absolve them are equally liable."

Still, another speaker rises up. "Thankfully, the Motherland Defence Initiative, which is now exposed as the law created by George, the mastermind of the non-existent group Ordo Tribus XI, has been repealed. However, abusive internet and intellectual laws should also be revoked and replaced with laws that would not hamper innovation. One that would make it easier for private enterprise and individuals to access new innovations and invent things themselves to benefit the public at large. An innovation friendly law that would allow our young innovators to stand on the shoulders of giant not dig hard for hidden breakthrough while constantly being obstructed on pain of being labelled a criminal."

The next speaker picks up where the last one left off. "Revision of patent law should reward original innovator, whose work are substantially original, and give them a head start to gain market share. The period shall be no longer than a decade. Or it depends on type of invention. If after the head start period has passed and they are still unable to bring the invention to market or have any working prototype, others who are able to should be allowed to market it and allow society to benefit from it. Original inventors have the option of licensing it during the head start period. Patent applications are quickly determined whether they are substantially original invention or not. Costly litigation and shady patent extension through litigation are abolished. Provide a streamlined online mechanism that would allow public challenges to existing or pending patent, with proof of existing knowledge or technology and degree of similarities. A knowledgeable and trained staff pass the decision and the loser pays the administration fee. A successful challenge could result in patent revocation. This would not be like Eva Garcia's fake patent reform which provided a very narrow window of opportunity to challenge a patent."

"Yes, and software, programming and other methods that have narrow options and are intuitive should NOT be patentable. If all previous computer technologies and programming are as embroiled in patent dispute as we are now, we would not have progress this fast. Patenting peripheral things where two people can easily come up with the same solution or way of programming only chokes off innovations."

Another speaker joins in on the discussion about intellectual invention protection. "All inventions where the main components are derived from non-patented and freely licensed work should be non-patentable. Same applies if major components are a results of directly applying existing knowledge."

Another participant concerned about the widespread violation of privacy by the conglomerate and politicians around the world passionately expresses his view. "Privacy laws should be improved instead of weakened. Without privacy, there is no real free speech. Without privacy, even democratically elected politicians can retaliate against its citizens. Laws against malware should be expanded to unauthorized collection of user's data, including unauthorized collection of data for marketing. The Node should be abolished and FriendsConnect severely penalized. New companies and open source community can quickly fill their roles."

A freelance artist stands up and offers her opinion. "Artistic works should not have very long period of copyright hold on them, which in most cases are controlled by publishers and third party labels or studios. But attribution and information for sending gratuities to the original creator, and his or her immediate heir, should permanently accompany the artist's works. And if the artist chooses to give up their rights for third party label, publisher or marketer, the third party should not be able to ask for very long period of copyright and hold on the artist's work."

Another citizen speaks about food safety. "One way to improve food safety is to remove ambiguous ingredients like chemical additives being labelled as Natural Flavors. Traces of chemicals and fertilizers should be listed along with ingredients. Along with any traces of toxins such as mercury. We have learned about World Food Inc. injecting their poultry with drugs to increase size and weight, thereby increasing their profit. These drugs that are used remain in the system of some of the meat that we have since tested, and in substantial amount. These are found to be at a level that are toxic to human organs. Testing for harmful residues on the food sold should become responsibility of the producer. Mislabelling and misleading ingredient and residues should result in severe penalty and suspension or revocation of business license. Consumer information should be improved to minimize misunderstanding, mistrust and baseless fears. All FDA research, which is funded by taxpayers money, should be made public automatically."

The ensuing debate is lively but friendly. Agreement to abandon extreme ideas like Communism and Free Market are adopted in favour of collaborative, moderate, practical and a more equitable approach with an eye on the future. Proactive rather than reactive.

_  
South_ _Africa_

The world has started planning for a memorial and celebration for next month. South Africa, the site of George's attempted genocide, will be the first country to host the first annual celebration. A world friendship fund has also been established. The foundation adopted a paradigm of 'teach them how to fish' and how to look out for thieves who plunder their wealth and encourage hate, division and corruption. It will also serve as a relief fund and will fund voter education. They will fund clean water initiatives but instead of profiting from it, like what George's did with his Safe Water World (SWW) charity, they will teach the locals to be self sufficient. Donations start pouring in, averaging $100 per person so far.

Nsia Kgosi and Jervis Wilfrid are both on the committe organizing for the celebration. But tonight they are just sitting in a field under a full moon relaxing.

"I am glad everything seems to be settling for the better now. But you know what they say, history repeats itself," Jervis says.

"It might seem that way, but if you just let history repeat itself, you will be in for a shock. Because the 2nd time around is often worse than the first," Nsia responds.
Epilogue

_  
November_ _11,_ _11_ _am_

It was a day of remembrance for casualties from past wars and atrocities. But this year there is more than just remembrance and solemn ceremonies. The night was planned as a night of celebration for overcoming hate and corruption.

_  
November_ _11,_ _6_ _pm_

The crowd continues to flow in as the celebration is set to begin. The music begins after the sun has set. The opening song is called "The World in Harmony" and it is a mix of various musical instruments from around the world. The song includes choirs singing, and a modern, upbeat tune with elements of aboriginal, African, Asia-Pacific, Latino, European, Middle East, and the Americas. The final composition works out well and blending well between the different forms of musics. There is a touch of electronic and classical with variety that is not cumbersome nor repetitive. An orchestra of world instruments.

After the song, the crowd falls quiet as thick fog covers the huge area creating low artificial clouds. Then sombre music plays out as the images of victims of George's atrocities appears as moving 3 dimensional hologram, floating and towering above the crowds. The moving, seemingly alive, images includes faces of Barb Stanton—source of the cancer cure scandal, Felicity Hansen—Salisium employee, the marine who died in Bolivia, Okba—tortured souls of Saudi, Anthony Kemp—the daring reporter, President Dean Davis, various victims and casualties from World Food Inc. genocidal eugenic's experiment in South Africa, and Cedric O'Ryan. Cedric's face is the last to float above the crowd and as his smiling face floats by, his voice from a video Eldon recorded of him played out in the speaker and echoed throughout the venue.

"If we perish, our energy and light will just continue to shine. Like a star, it might seem small in the wider scope of things, but together it enlivens the world."

The crowd starts clapping.

The night proceeds with more music and dancing. Some of the wide variety of music played is rock, electric guitar shredding, electronic beat, folk music, modern music and classical music with modern renditions. One artist performs a hair-raising ancient poetic type of lament chant about the toils of human. She is backed by an orchestra and hand drums. The beat is heartfelt, snappy and determined. There were all sorts of music that followed. Music that is awe inspiring, music that creates a natural high. Another artist takes the stage and starts his performance by yelling "Free the music!" to wild cheers and applause.

The crowd has on hand a flashlight looking device that they point to the artificial cloud. It turns it to a cloud with all sorts of colours imaginable. Sometimes it looks like an image of a colourful galaxy or simply a mix of all possible colours imaginable with various shades. It adds to the surreal atmosphere. Everyone is happy and friendly. It is heaven on earth.

Various pilgrims from around the world descend on South Africa that night.

Adolfo of Bolivia whose heart was full of hatred over the death of his whole family, has come here to try to excise the tumult in his heart.

Ray and Gracy joined by Eldon are there to remember loved ones who have passed and to celebrate with the rest of the world.

Oleg Oborski whose electric car is finally out on the market offers one of his car for a fund raising raffle to benefit the World Friendship Funds.

Cedric's friends—Bobby, Christine, Jake, Blake and Rose—are also present to pay tribute to their friend.

Janine Rita is inspired to see her friend Felicity appear as a hologram. Janine have reproduced the hard copy of Felicity's research left at her place the night of her dead. Salisium and all products that uses it was pulled from the market.

Cole Walter, whose act makes him the son who dishonours his father but saved the world, is just happy to be there to remove any doubt he might have about what he have done.

Benjie Scott, who remembers his friend Jack Garrick, whose stolen cure has finally been found thanks to Cole Walter. Jack is also undergoing brain therapy to retrain his brain to use other parts in place of the parts that were severely damaged by the conglomerate's psychosis inducing drug. The progress looks promising thanks to Benjie Scott finding an expert right away, since the damage worsens the longer it is left untreated.

Juliet Ayers, whose cottage her friend Barb used before she was brutally chased and killed, is there.

Talon Gladwell, the disfigured marine who wears his face proudly as a sacrifice for his country, is there.

Astor Isaiah, for whom living in poverty has made him a witness to many cases of hate, resentment and suffering. The repentant and grateful Secretary of Treasury has bought a plane ticket for him upon learning of his dream of being able to attend the celebration.

Jabaar and Gamali are there, whose experiences in the hands of Izz-al Din have changed them forever, but their compassion and humility are intact.

Relatives, friends and colleagues of Anthony Kemp all come to pay tribute to the fearless reporter.

Nolan Hudson comes to celebrate and meet other hackers he worked with during those frantic days.

Roy Merritt is now busy in the new economic committee, but he takes time off to take part in the festivities.

Jervis Wilfrid and Nsia Kgosi working alongside thousands of South African volunteers, have worked tirelessly. It was more than rewarding to see all the happy faces of people from around the world.

As the festivities wind down, Ray and Gracy take the late night flight out of South Africa. They can see the celebration venue with red light pulsing outward and inward. From several feet above the clear night sky, the human heart shaped stage and moving lights makes the view from above looks like there is a giant live pumping heart.

A group of friends who came from Barcelona decide to take a walk as the festivities start to wrap up. Cristobal, Angelino, Diego, Paulina, Julia and other friends are all joking around with the trauma of the experiences now behind them. Jacinto is just happy to be with all his friends. As they sit in a field, Jacinto sees everyone is now tired and they have quieted down.

Jacinto is happy about how things have turned out. He is pretty satisfied. He turns around to talk to his friends, "You know what, part of the beauty of nature is its unpredictability. It is naturally chaotic but generally not malignant. Nature is neither rigid nor inflexible. Those who force it to adhere to their idea of order and control are like the flat earth society of the old days. They oversimplify the world, and if it does not conform, they go mad, losing context and fighting back violently through suppression and repression. These control freaks crave certainty and predictability by creating their own order, and in the process corrupting the free reeling nature of the living world. Just as it was during the dark age, those who come up with new ideas are prosecuted and ridiculed. They seek to change the world to suit their greed rather than change with the world. The oppressors trap themselves in simplistic ideologies. They are the radicals, a malignancy that insults our natural system. Just like Hitler, who offers uniformity and predictability through absolute state control." Jacinto sighs then continues.

"We should not be fearful of the unknown. Instead, our mind should be set free and not hindered by what we have been taught or told. We should be humbled at how little we know and pursue what is deemed impossible, without obsessing or trapping ourselves in repetitive mistakes. As much as I hate religion, which was made worse by Rev. David Patrick and Kojo Thulani, one thing I can say is there is a greater force that no one, not even science can fully comprehend as of yet. The infinite and unprovable. The paradox. The unknown is where the answers can be found."
