Tehom
The Tehom Legacy Book One
S. Abel de Valcourt
Copyright © 2021 S. Abel de Valcourt
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design by: Bookcoverzone
Printed in the United States of America
For my children, and theirs.
Don't be afraid to look up.
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One: Daniel Tehom
Chapter Two: A New Direction
Chapter Three: Fifty Years Later
Chapter Four: Oliver Tehom, Communist
Chapter Five: Simon Tehom, Dreamer
Chapter Six: Discovery
Chapter Seven: The Dogs of War
Chapter Eight: Liberty
Chapter Nine: Mars and Beyond
Chapter Ten: Banking on Genetics
Chapter Eleven: on the edge of Oblivion
Chapter Twelve: The legacy of David Rush, Hero
Chapter Thirteen: Eleanor Tehom stands up
Chapter Fourteen: The power of music
Chapter Fifteen: Sebastian Bohun
Chapter Sixteen: The Xiang’s
Chapter Seventeen: Arrival
Chapter Eighteen: Wonders never cease
Chapter Nineteen: The Curtain Falls on us All
Chapter Twenty: Live Goes On
Chapter Twenty One: Lovers
Chapter Twenty Two: Scraps of Home
Chapter Twenty Three: The Black
Chapter Twenty Four: A Room with a View
Chapter One: Daniel Tehom
“You are a damned fool!” shouted Hal Cabot across the polished mahogany desk.
“This is my office Hal, and my company. If you do not like my decisions there are other places to work.” Spoke the man behind the desk sitting calmly in a slick high-backed leather chair.
“I am going to lose my house Daniel, do you not understand? You have real people working for this company. Real people, this isn’t a hobby. You are messing with people’s livelihood!”
“Cabot, you are the only person I know that could go broke on three million a year.”
“Fuck you Daniel.”
“Really? Do you not remember when we were throwing code around in my mom’s garage? We were chowing down on Asian noodles and fruit cups; sleeping in bags on the floor. That was only fifteen years ago! You are rich now Cabot, or would be if you could keep it in your pants. Your house is twice the size of mine Hal, for no reason; I mean really, you don’t even have kids! Does any of this really matter? Neither one of us is ever going to be out in the street Hal.” Daniel stood and leaned against the desk with both hands looking straight into the other man’s face.
“Why are you doing this? None of this makes sense. You are driving this company into the ground for no reason! I won’t let you take us all down with you.”
Daniel laughed loudly. “I will do what I want. Who’s name is on the building Hal? All your options are class B common for a reason. I have twice the voting power in this company than you and all of the board put together for a damned good reason. This is MY Company, hang on for the ride or get off the bus. The decision is mine to make, I have never let you down before, just trust me.”
“Trust you? Really? It is hard to trust you when you run off at the mouth to some reporter and tank the stock price thirty percent in forty eight hours.”
“Some reporter? That’s my wife Hal. Get out of my office before you get yourself hurt, take the weekend and relax. I will see you at the board meeting Monday morning.”
Hal pushed his middle finger in the air and slammed the door behind him on the way out making the pictures on the wall wobble for a moment. The man behind the desk turned around and looked out the window at the city below.
Times were hard. America had taken the brunt of the worldwide financial meltdown as the nation’s leaders turned to trying to save the world instead of their own country. Trillions of dollars sent to foreign shores, all of it wasted. Whole neighborhoods in once prosperous cities stood deserted. Squatting had become a way of life and banks squeezed pennies out of what was left of the middle class to keep their profits up. Somehow Daniel Tehom had carved a multibillion dollar company starting with a handful of friends and nothing but a chip on his shoulder.
The building which he looked out of said only a single word ‘Tehom’ for Tehom Acquisitions, a company that had miraculously been in the right place at the right time. A simple hobby and leisure company grew from nothing into an economic powerhouse to rival many western governments, and that was 5 years ago. When a silly little casual computer game company bought the second largest microprocessor firm in the world, it made the news. Eighteen months later when he purchased a cell phone carrier, a leading plastics company, two steel manufacturers, a defense contractor and a recycling conglomerate, he made the cover of the financial magazines.
The bulk of the company ran itself. Daniel let people do their jobs and trusted them to be competent without standing over their shoulders. In return Tehom Acquisitions, the parent company simply raked in profits and made millionaires over night. They enjoyed one of the greatest cash positions of any company in the world.
Daniel Tehom stood as a bit of a mystery to the world. He was president of his computer club in high school, but was kicked out for his failing grades. In college he scraped by making a few friends, fewer girl friends and was very quiet. He was constantly being bombarded by reporters and questions. That’s how he met his wife, Rachael. Rachael was the only reporter that had managed to get close to him and she stood next to her man with blind faith and a consistently open heart.
As his wealth and legend grew as did his isolation. Daniel hadn’t been in a car in two years. Not since a homeless woman had thrown herself in front of his limo and his car was mobbed when they stopped. They had stripped him naked, stolen everything. It was front page news, the nation was falling apart. The rich were a target, no matter who they were, how many workers they employed or how much money they gave away. With so many out of work, the entire nation had come to a standstill over fear of everything finally falling apart. Then the never-ending riots started and Daniel took a helicopter to work every morning.
He could see thousands of people below him, whole tent cities had grown up in the streets. When the police and National Guard tried to move them, the riots started anew. There was no place for the people to go, no work, no homes, and no money. Income and capital gains taxes had gone through the roof, all of the money went to soup kitchens. There was no such thing as a single family home anymore. Most four bedroom homes had two or even three families living in them to pool resources. The politicians were giving the people what they wanted, food and free money; instead of what they needed, a job and stability. The whole world was upside down and on fire.
Somehow through all this, Daniel Tehom had become the fourth richest man in the world. A poor college kid to billionaire in five years. His detractors were many, he had never given a penny to charity, his house and office buildings were fortresses and as secure as anything short of a bunker could provide. The company’s cash position was of constant ridicule on the nightly news. There were billions upon billions of dollars just sitting in accounts said the news. The press had
long turned against him, and now one of his last surviving friends seemed to be following suit.
His work for the day was finished; he had come to the office just to put a damper on the ranting of Hal Cabot. Turning to switch off his computer he saw the news ticker at the bottom of the screen was talking about the mortality rates from starvation in Africa.
Why haven’t they fixed this mess?
Daniel was not a mean or uncaring person, in spite of how he was portrayed in the press. He knew that for every dollar he gave in charity, only a penny or two would actually go to the needy. The bureaucracy and middlemen had grown so great that the only people who benefitted from the notion of charity were the administrators and facilitators of the individual charities. Charity and community action were the new booming industries and everyone wanted a plate at the buffet line as the government tried to react to the fractures and breakdowns of American society. The people suffered. Charity groups had become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. Sports teams and the unhealthy obsessions that went along with it had finally begun to crumble. The franchises and athletes were impossible to maintain once the massive arenas and sports complexes were deserted by the public. For almost a century they had been the ‘go to’ distraction to keep the public entranced, enthralled and invested in imaginary efforts. The gladiators and troubadours had finally soured on the tongues of the public that had put them so high.
Busy work to keep the people quiet and in check.
The unemployment rates climbed but America still clung onto their social media, mindless casual games and cell phones. It was a maddening thing, children with no clothes eating at soup kitchens in the street with nothing but tents for shelter. Yet their parents still had their cell phones active and at the ready. Social media had become the drug of the generation.
Certain states were better than others. New York was a mess, as was California. Texas was actually doing well, and the economy there held up the states that surrounded it. Illinois and Michigan had turned themselves into a war torn wasteland. Florida was a homeless haven due to the weather.
Daniel had secretly bought over half a million acres of land in West Texas, just over a thousand square miles. When the press found out it was a slaughter of bad press. The purchase didn’t even dent his net worth, and it was his money not the company money. Still they called it ‘Daniel’s Folly’. The whole world wanted him to fail. The whole world wanted to watch his fall from the top.
Don’t hold it against them, they are hurting. They want someone else to hurt too.
Tehom Acquisitions employed many of the greatest scientists of the world, as their industries and countries failed Daniel scooped them up and paid them to just think. Innovation had become the victim of the economic collapse. Daniel Tehom had become one of the great patrons of the world, and in turn Tehom Acquisitions was one of the largest patent holders in the world.
Some people collect coins, art, or porn. I collect patents.
Daniel looked down at his watch; he had stayed at work longer than he had planned. The city below was a hypnotic stir of humanity. He pressed a button on his phone and a few seconds later could hear the buffeting of the helicopter blades as the engine began to purr with his personal pilot waiting.
Outside the office the eyes of his employees looked like scared deer. The world was so uncertain, but through it all he had not laid off a single person.
Why do they think this would be any different?
Hal had put them all on edge; he seemed to think a thirty percent stock crash was the end of the company. He had practically run up and down the halls of cubicles screaming that the end was near. He had caused such a fuss that Claudia, Daniel’s office secretary had called him into work. The damage was done and he could see it in their eyes. To them, their stock portfolios had taken a tremendous hit and Hal had screamed to the top of his lungs of the doom and gloom they faced.
“It’s all paper losses! Do not sell your stock! And tell Hal he is an asshole!” Daniel yelled down the hallway. The reaction was a standing ovation, guarded cheers and uneasy laughter.
Just one little mistake, one little hiccup cause all this.
Daniel had talked to his wife in confidence and written the article together. She knew what was coming on Monday. Her editor had posted her magazine article two days early on their website. The mistake was a simple one, made by a distracted desk jockey that was just doing her job.
Poor girl is scared to death she is going to be fired.
Daniel didn’t fire people for doing their job, even if it wasn’t being done in the way he thought it should be done. The article was a public relations piece; one that he hoped would smooth over the transition and chaos that was to be unleashed. Once the public relations bit leaked to the web then the headlines started as they focused on only a single aspect.
“Daniel Tehom to take company out of California!”
“Tehom Acquisitions to drop Silicon Valley!”
“Total Collapse Predicted as Tehom Departs!”
This flight and one more would be his last away from the office building they had purchased in the valley ten years earlier. The helicopter passed over the roof of the building and into the clouds headed east towards Mariposa.
One of his first large purchases, an entire mountain near Yosemite called Mount Verde is where he built his home. Daniel admired the people of Mariposa, in a time of crisis they had banded together as a group. Community parks and backyards had become farmland, they opened their houses up to one another and worked as a group toward a common goal, survival. Such solid community was what the whole nation needed, and while it seemed to happen in small groups the nation as a whole could not band together with a spirit of self-reliance the same way.
Too many politicians, middle men, profiteers and thieves.
Mount Tehom, or so it had been renamed was close now and Mariposa looked peaceful as always. The hungry crowds looking for hand outs flocked to the cities, the hard workers and people willing to get their hands dirty moved toward the rural and wild hills where they could scratch something out and maintain their pride. One or two of them looked up at his helicopter as it roared overhead. Daniel admired them and their freedom; they looked at him as if he were from another planet.
The helicopter landed behind the high wall that surrounded the Mount Tehom compound and he could see his wife in the garden. Rachael worked at her journalism career only enough to stay relevant, and what she did do she did mostly from home. She was always waiting for him as he arrived home. As the helicopter finally powered down, Flora and Oliver ran towards him for hugs. He had only been gone a few hours but already his children missed him.
I am going to miss these green hills.
The green mountains and forests wrapped around Mount Verde and Mariposa like a warm blanket. Insulated everyone from the chaos of Northern California and the world, Daniels decision had put everything into question for everyone. He saw just a bit of doubt in Rachael’s eyes before she kissed him and closed them.
Cheesy vintage video game music played from his pocket and Daniel stuck the earpiece in his ear. One of the few people in the world important enough to actually need the invention. He gave his kids both a kiss and a hug and slapped his wife gently on the butt before finally answering the silence in his ear with any sort of response.
“Hello”
“The board is concerned Daniel. They are moving towards a no confidence vote in your leadership. Hal is leading the rebellion.” Chirped a voice in the phone.
“Let them do what they want, they don’t scare me. It is the weekend; I’ll be there on Monday. Can you hold them off till the board meeting?”
“You know I can, but can you understand the chaos you have caused?”
“We are just one company Rich, we can’t take the burden of the entire tri-state area on our backs. We are not a charity.”
“Exactly. Which is why the board is freaking out man, they don’t see any money in this decision.
I mean really, moving the whole company? Why? Did you know that not only did our stock tank thirty percent but housing values also just dropped by nearly half in 24 hours? Hal lost about six million in equity in his house.”
“That’s his fault for buying a twenty million dollar house on three million a year.”
“Still I think I can hear his wife screaming at him from here,” laughed Rich Goddard on the other end of the phone. “Listen Daniel, none of us would be here if it wasn’t for you. Hell, I’d probably be living in a tent on the street if we hadn’t met. I trust you Daniel, but the board doesn’t know you like I do. They are about money, and they feel like you are jerking their chains on this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some resignations when you pull voting rights on them.”
“If they leave the company they have to sell their stock back to the company at the current value. If anyone resigns they are stupid.” quipped Daniel.
“Tensions are high. I’ll see you Monday morning, tell Rachael I said Hey.”
“Will do.”
Daniel rubbed his temples and put the earpiece back into his pocket. He had long become enslaved to his cell phone, like so many people.
Richard Goddard, was one of the few original surviving members from the old days of the company. He had helped build the company from scratch and under Daniel’s umbrella become wealthy. Rich was one of the few that didn’t over spend; he had taken Daniel’s lead and lived well under his means. When tragedy had struck the Tehom family of companies Rich had taken the largest loss. Emily his wife and college girlfriend, had been killed while Rich was driving away from a dinner party for the executives. Emily Goddard was the mom of their group, bringing them all warm meals and making sure they got some sleep back in the old days. The loss had caused Rich to retire from life for a few years. Daniel found him wasting away in some technology think tank in Germany, a place that just wanted his money and his science genius. Over the last few years Rich and Daniel had grown even closer, it seemed that Rich was the only true friend to be found outside his own immediate family. Everyone else was about money, business or handouts.
Tehom: The Tehom Legacy Book One Page 1
