by G. R. Carter
The two sat eating silently for a few moments, Tony processing the information and Nicole wondering what else Tony might find helpful.
Nicole continued: “They’ve got a Fruit of the Valley temple here. Did you know that?”
“Where at?”
“Near the Welcome Center on 23rd. I noticed it when I picked up my new SmartWatch. SmartWatch updates are like Christmas here, you know? I hate the stupid things; they feel like a dog collar. Anyway, I recognized the Fruit of the Valley symbols on the front of the building. The big V with the sunrise behind it. You know, like the sun is rising up through the letter?” Nicole informed. “Plus, there’s a perfect circle with a pyramid inside, like a metal disk, on both doors. That’s the symbol for Continuity.
How did I not know that? I’ve got to tell Bobby to get someone in there.
“We had some clue they were operating here in the city,” Tony replied.
Something came suddenly to his mind. “Have you met anyone here at ARK that you think is a follower?”
Nicole considered the question, and answered. “I don’t think so; your group seems pretty down-to-earth. But you’ve got a bunch of people here. I certainly haven’t met them all.”
Tony stopped, studying this person who had been a complete stranger just an hour ago. He was famous for his snap judgment, quick decisions that proved right more often than not.
Can I trust her? She didn’t come to us with this information, Uncle Jack found her by accident. She could be a plant from M&C or Interior…ah, quit second guessing yourself. You’re just as clever as they are, and you couldn’t have planned this kind of coincidence. He made his decision.
“Nicole, I want you to work on a special project for me. Something very important to our firm. But unfortunately, I’ve got to ask you to keep it a complete secret,” Tony said.
Nicole gave a stunned look. “You just met me an hour ago, and now you’re asking me to work on a top-secret project? What happened to the world-famous security you were supposed to enforce?” she asked.
“Let’s just say I’m a good judge of character. We’ll give you cash to operate with, so there’s no currency to track. The people I’ll assign to help you will know who to discreetly purchase supplies from.”
“I haven’t used cash in years. I didn’t even know there were businesses that still accepted real money.” Nicole’s eyes narrowed a bit, and questioned: “Is this project illegal?”
“You mean do you have to kill someone?” Tony asked brusquely. “Or sell drugs?”
He paused, surprised at himself for taking the question so personally. Of course she knew how the family’s business operated in the past. Everyone did. And surely, she understood that even today their businesses operated in the gray area of society.
Occasionally over into the darker colors, he admitted to himself. People have taken that jab at me my whole life, why did I let it bother me when she asked?
“I’m sorry if I offended you. I’m just a little wary of strangers offering me cash and asking me to go on secret missions for them,” Nicole offered as her expression softened.
She’s got guts.
“No, it’s all right. I forget you’re new to our firm. I keep thinking you should know us better, but of course you don’t. All you know is what you’ve heard from others. Nicole, if you’re uncomfortable with this, I understand. You can say no, and there won’t be any ramifications. Your current job won’t be affected, and we’ll act like this conversation never happened,” Tony assured her, sincerely.
Nicole stared deep into Tony’s eyes for a moment that seemed like an hour. Seldom had the infamous Tony Diamante, CEO of one of the most powerful firms in the country, felt so uncomfortable.
Finally, Nicole broke the silence. “Ok Tony, tell me what I can do to help ARK.”
Tony replied, relieved: “I want you to design a completely self–contained computer system. A parallel system that can’t be probed or hacked by anyone outside this firm. I need someone who doesn’t know the everyday routine here. People who have worked here for years don’t see the hidden threats. They think we’re bulletproof inside this brick and steel fortress. You understand that the very air surrounding us is a threat to our security. I want you to look objectively at each and every connected process, wired or wireless. Any device connected to Grapevine or the outside world in any way,” he said.
He looked around at the beautiful wood work of the dining room. Then at the real silver utensils, and expensive plates and glasses that adorned their private table.
How do I explain what I’m looking for?
“Nicole, this building is our hub. And frankly, it’s my family’s home. Our fortress against the changes the world has thrown at us for a hundred years. I mean that figuratively and literally…As of tonight, we’re moving all of our key people into the building. We gather here whenever we sense trouble on the horizon.
“I’m assigning you an apartment here, also. Have the doormen send a car over to your place to pick up your belongings. Don’t worry about the lease, we’ll have one of the junior partners contact Housing Authority for you.
“You’ll have three of my best security experts as your direct contacts. You, in exchange, will report directly to me. I know this is sudden, but maybe that will give you an idea of how important I think this is,” Tony continued. “Don’t tip anyone off to what you’re doing, just start with a clean sheet and figure out a way to keep us up and running if we have to severe ties to Grapevine. Start with a clean sheet, all the way down to the power source. The rest of the Firm, me included, will continue with business as usual. Anyone watching us won’t know that we’re on them.”
“I think I get the process…I’m still not 100% sure what exactly you want me to accomplish,” Nicole said.
Tony held up a crystal water glass between them. “You see this glass? When the time comes, I want this building and more importantly our firm, to be as invisible to Grapevine as this water glass is. That’s your mission.”
Schoolhouse Hill – Rural Shelby County
Two Years Before the Great Reset
Phil Hamilton never gave up his dream of self-sufficiency he’d suggested that morning in the local donut shop. After he floated the idea of Shelby County creating a source of their own fuel, he and a few other farmers in the area got serious about trying. Phil’s group organized something they called the Shelby County Cooperative, or just the Co–op for short. Any free time found like–minded families helping retrofit houses and barns to run off generators, firewalling them against an increasingly unreliable electric grid. Homegrown biofuel ran their tractors and personal cars so they weren’t beholden to oft empty local gas stations.
The retired engineers he called the Wizards were happy to join the Co-op, even footing the bill for most of the equipment needed. To save effort and expense, they decided to focus on soy diesel instead of ethanol because of the higher energy conversion rate.
Future soybean crops could also be planted from the previous year’s harvest. Modern hybrid corn was nearly impossible to keep and replant, having been bio-engineered and modified before farmers purchased the seed. But older variety soybeans – enough old timers still planted public strains and resisted signing no-replant agreements with the major seed vendor – were consistent producers and could be cleaned and stored for replant in following years.
The Co–op worked with research assistants from nearby Old Main College, sorting out proper fertilization and rotation. In the fall, the Cooperative would plant wheat that grew to a certain height, went dormant for the winter, then revived and grew through maturity in early July. Immediately after, the planters would sow soybeans, taking advantage of the warm mid-summer days to get the plants to maturity before restarting the process again come autumn. The double crop strategy restricted the yields for most crops. However, the goal of the Co–op was self–sufficiency instead of gaining digital dollars.
With grain production off to a good start, the Co–op
turned to perfecting small batch biodiesel. Old Main College helped, lending a graduate assistant for installation of mini-refineries on each member’s farm. When Phil’s friends visited the Hamilton farmstead, they were surprised the whole assembly took just one corner of the Hamilton’s machine shed. The building also contained a purpose-built hydroponic system the Co–op installed to provide fresh fruit and vegetables during the cold winter months. The fuel generated by the refinery – Delbert Kuhn and Bob Ford called it “The Still” – heated the building and nutrient-rich water, helping plants create more food for the family. Co–op members and Old Main staff meticulously recorded their schematics and findings so their system could be replicated anywhere a new member joined.
Smells of cooking vegetable oil permeated the landscape, leading to derogatory talk of “oilers” from some unsympathetic neighbors downwind. Many tried to install solar panels, but those were susceptible to the Solar Storms. Windmills were useful but needed constant maintenance in the Midwestern climate. Plus, the blades needed at least moderate wind to turn…and didn’t fit on top of tractors very well.
Work was never in short supply around the Hamilton farm. Phil and his wife Anna cut out Hollywood style entertainment and the radio stations that played the same few songs every hour. A family computer relayed news from the cities and let them stream music, though getting uninterrupted service often proved difficult. Brownouts and blackouts were a common way to start the day and warned of possible Solar Storm activity. They’d simply wait it out and reach for that ancient entertainment device called the book, or sometimes even hammer out a few tunes on guitar and piano.
His oldest son AJ rose early to feed their cattle. Sam was often tinkering with their loader tractor, trying to get the hydraulics to function despite numerous patches and workarounds. Since football fell victim to school budget cuts, the boys spent their weekend mornings at home instead of the weight room. He was proud of his kids, pitching in on a Saturday morning instead of sleeping in like most their age.
His girls were younger, but still willing to do what they could. Lori and Essie often accompanied Anna to the county hospital, where she had worked since she and Phil were married. Their daughters volunteered to help Anna when she pulled weekend duty - at least until Phil could get his morning chores done and get into town to pick them up and treat them to a late breakfast. He hated her working away from the farm, but no one knew how much longer the hospital could stay open, so she took every hour of pay she could get.
Dropping out of the system turned out to be incredibly expensive, at least in digital dollars. The struggle for self-sufficiency was tougher than he ever imagined. Even if he and other local folks were willing to trade and barter, most outside suppliers demanded payment in something other than eggs and biofuel. Nerves and budgets frayed. More than once, he wanted to give up. But Anna kept him strong, reminding him of the goals they had for their children and their town.
Together they prayed for guidance, for hope, for the possibility that perhaps, someday, others might join them. Before it was too late for them all.
Federal DC
Just Before the Great Reset
“They’re on to us,” Pina Bastet said, looking over her shoulder at the door she’d just shut behind her.
“Of course they are, Pina,” Elias Marburg said impatiently. “We’ve known there would be some sort of resistance. Our enemies aren’t complete fools.”
Pina was shaking her head, more nervous than Elias had seen her before. Usually she was so confident, besides she’d never risk showing weakness in front of him. After all, he was the primary Gatekeeper, the one who would determine the ultimate worth of her eternal Profile.
“I’m telling you, Elias. The Owls know… I just don’t understand how they would have found out…”
“Found out what, Pina? Come on, spit it out,” Marburg demanded.
“The Owls have got a list of all our shelters. They’ve know we’re using Grapevine to monitor everyone’s movements.” She winced, sure that Marburg was going to fly into a rage. When he didn’t, she grew more concerned. “Elias, they even know the timeline.”
Dr. Elias Marburg, the most powerful person in the American government, clasped his hands behind his back and walked around the massive oak desk to the oversized window that flooded his office with sunlight. He liked to think while staring out the window. Seldom did he spend time outside; allergies plagued him and bugs disgusted him. However the window hung like a living painting, a well crafted masterpiece that changed every day. The intricacy of nature intrigued him, the way things seemed to fit together, almost as if something guided the design. Much like I’m guiding the design of Humanity’s future he thought.
“The Owls think they have us figured out,” he said quietly. He wasn’t concerned about how the information leaked. He would have been surprised if it didn’t. There were too many people involved for someone not to get drunk some night and tell their mistress, who then told whatever spy agency she worked for, who then sold the information to the highest bidder. No, what really surprised him was how far they’d proceeded with their plans before the do-gooder Owls caught on. They’re getting old.
“We’re almost ready.”
Pina tilted her head slightly, confused at Marburg’s words. “It’s still a year before we’re ready, Elias. We’ve been working around the clock for two years, but we’ve still got a mountain of things to get done.”
“We’re almost ready,” he repeated, firmer this time. “I want to know what would happen if we instituted Killswitch next week.”
“Elias, I don’t understand. Most of the shelter sites are only half complete. Provisions aren’t scheduled to be delivered for another six months.”
Elias turned away from the window. “That’s the secondary sites. The primary sites are complete and fully stocked with provisions, correct?”
Pina nodded slowly. She was seldom surprised by Marburg, she had as good a read on the man as anyone ever could. The complexity of his thoughts, the ability to track multiple tasks simultaneously… Yet it was his emotions, or more like his lack of emotion, that could unsettle her.
“You’re talking about a third of our selected survivors not getting a shelter.”
Marburg shrugged. “We over selected anyway. We knew some wouldn’t make it through Killswitch. The most important people were all assigned to the primary sites.”
“That’s going to leave us dangerously short of workers later on.”
“There will be some other survivors, Pina. Humans and rats live so closely together for a reason. Both species will do anything to survive. We’ll just round some up and train them.” He emphasized the last two words, making it clear how he intended to use anyone lucky enough to survive the dark days sure to come.
“All that work to get ready,” Pina complained. “It was going to come together flawlessly.”
“Plans are useless,” Marburg said. “It’s the planning itself that’s indispensable.”
He went and plopped down in his big leather desk chair and propped his feet up on the desk. “It’s time Pina. The Owls think they have us, right? Well guess what, they’re going to be a year late and a trillion dollars short.”
He laced his fingers behind his head and looked up at the ceiling. “Send the code to the primaries, only. This is not a drill, we’re going to ground now.”
“And the secondary sites?” she asked, afraid of what the answer would be, but knowing full well before he answered.
“Send the secondary sites a code…” He thought about it for a moment. “Send the drill code, the full mobilization drill. That way the Owls won’t get suspicious from activity around our priority sites.” His plan seemed to please him. “At least the lessor groups will be at some level of readiness when it happens.”
He was rocking back and forth a little, smiling. All the pressure of getting ready was gone. I’m the ultimate prepper he laughed to himself. The time was ripe to put his theories to work, the
ultimate anthropological research project, all the while perfecting the religion he’d had a hand in establishing. So what if everything wasn’t perfect just yet? Would it ever really be?
His confidence remained unshaken. With the advanced timeline a few more of the undesirables might survive and a few less of their betters. So what? It wouldn’t be enough to make a difference. Regardless of the updated schedule, he’d pulled off the greatest coup in the long timeline of civilization. Elias Marburg would be worshiped until the end of time as the man who hacked human evolution.
Western Illinois Correctional Center
Just Before the Great Reset
The prison auditorium room was standing room only, even the aisles were filled with men and women leaning against the walls in their casual uniforms. The entire union membership except for a skeleton crew watching the floor was present, making the room packed and stuffy. The topic of the day added tension to the discomfort. Sergeant Red Morton sat at small folding table on the stage, looking out over the group he considered family.
“I don’t think someone sacking up with management is really looking out for the good of the union,” a voice shouted from the back of the room.
“That’s enough!” Morton shouted back. “Captain Lewis has always acted with our best interests in mind. He’s negotiated a pay raise with Jordan Inc in every contract. Full benefits, too. You think you can find just as good a job outside this facility, be my guest.”
Morton stewed and stared, waiting for anyone to respond. He didn’t know who had made the comment, but one of his loyal officers would tell him later.
“No one got the stones to say anything to my face? Then keep your fool mouths shut. We’re lucky to have these jobs. And we’re lucky to have a warden who treats her people like people.”
